


Alternate Battle for Azeroth

by FNC_Stones



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dark moments, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Language, Lore Alterations, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Violence, long story, very eventual smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-01-24 09:07:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 44
Words: 297,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FNC_Stones/pseuds/FNC_Stones
Summary: After the Burning Legion invasion, Sargeras left a last wound on the planet in Silithus. His huge corrupt sword caused a new substance called Azerite to emerge from Azeroth, causing the Fourth War between the Alliance and the Horde, who were recently fighting side by side against the Legion. The world is divided again, old alliances are broken again, and it doesn't look like anyone realizes that the true enemy is behind all of it. After a brutal attack by the Horde in Teldrassil, Anduin Wrynn, the young king of Stormwind, receives a visit from an old friend who seems to be aware of the true threat. Then, they will end up on a mission to save the entire world.--This is a translation
Relationships: Wrathion/Anduin Wrynn
Comments: 80
Kudos: 197





	1. An old acquaintance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm Stones and this story is a translation I originaly wrote in Spanish, be gentle please I'm not that good in English but I wanted to share my story anyway :(  
I began to write this story more or less when Uldir's raid was about to open. When I started playing BFA I didn't quite like it at all and, as I always imagine things, I started writing this. I may follow the line of the canon (with obvious differences you will see) to Uldir, beyond that I already took another path quite different from Blizzard's with the canon. There may be similarities, but the truth is that it's a coincidence, I finished writing this story in a notebook in Uldir's time and I won't change it. So I could basically say that I have rewritten BFA my way, it doesn't have much mystery. But a couple of warnings:  
\- This is a very long story with long chapters, keep it in mind.  
\- Anduin and Wrathion are the main characters and everything will revolve around them, the rest of characters are secondary, I won't pay too much attention unless it's necessary for a couple of details.  
\- In relation to the previous one, if Anduin is my main, it means that everything will be much more focused on the Alliance side. At some point you will know about the Horde, but everything it will be all Alliance (sorry).  
\- Speaking of romance, it is not the main thing in this story. What I wanted was to write an adventure, Wranduin is indeed included and will have all the highlights but it is not the main thing. There are some other romances but compared to Wranduin it's nothing, really. Also get ready for very slow romance hehe.  
\- There are many variations of the canonical Lore although I think it's obvious. Among the remarkable thing that aren't spoiler: Tess Greymane is part of the SI:7. Calia Menethil is alive (you will see how I fixed this, but disliked the canon so much). Jaina's brothers won't appear. Why? Tandred is a character that they took off several times from the canon and now suddenly he is in again but he doesn't contribute anything, so he will remain non-canon for me. Derek... I don't think a corpse that has been under the sea for about 20 years is in perfect condition, not to mention that he was originally melted by dragon fire, so... out, they can't offer me anything. There are more things but I won't say more (it would be spoiler).  
\- It was hard to decide posting this, I have no pretensions to be a good writer or anything, probably in general it is bad, I just want you to have a nice time since you have decided to click here.  
\- I want to thank Andrea and Nina for helping me with translation, this won't be posible without them. As you can see now, I have an elementary english level, but they were patient enough to correct all my crap. If you're reading this, I love you <3  
\- Nothing else, enjoy and thank you!

> PART 1: A divided world

_From his point of view, he could say the world was on fire. It did not mean it really was, there was no end to the world, but he felt_ _this way. A big black smoke covered the sky and reflected the red of the flames all over the sea surrounding the great tree. All the ash that fell disappeared upon touching the sea almost as quickly as the hopes of that boy to save the world. He had no idea how his enemy had discovered he was going to Teldrassil these days; he assumed himself to have been quite secretive with his comings and goings. Apparently, not careful enough. And there he was, paralyzed, watching the horror of the fire as he wondered what he should do now. There was something that crossed his mind several times, something that was suggested to him, "You can’t continue alone with this mission, you will need help when the time comes". It was true, he would need allies for the torments that were to come, but it was no longer so simple. How could he get the help he needed when he most likely had earned everyone’s hatred? He could not misstep or misplace his trust. He had been very cautious so far but it would mean nothing if he shared sensitive information with the wrong person._

_He needed to talk to 'her' once again and find safer places to disseminate and receive information. Which of his goals were worth prioritizing and pursuing. 'She' would be the best to guide him. He glanced one last time at the great fallen tree before heading to Nordrassil once more as he swore to end this torment._

  
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At first he thought it was a bad joke. Anyone would have thought it was a joke. Anduin was aware that Sylvanas, for some reason, had decided to assault Darkshore with all the force of the Horde and the invasion was lasting more than a week. Anduin never ceased sending reinforcements to try to repel the attack. However, that morning after waking up, the first news brought to him was of Teldrassil burning and he could not believe it. It was not an ordinary tree, it was highly unlikely to fall in a single attack of the Horde and, deep down, he prayed it was just a dream. When Darnassus’ ships began to arrive at the harbor and the portals did not stop bringing refugees, his heart shrank and broke into a thousand pieces. The only thing he wondered was 'why'. Why did Sylvanas do such a horrible thing? Thousands of deaths, thousands of displaced and broken homes. Anduin always heard the Horde had a great sense of honor, but now he was incapable to understand what kind of honor lived in that massacre. He naively believed that after the horror the Burning Legion unleashed last year, that was enough to settle the whole world and reach, at the very least, a non-aggression pact between the Horde and the Alliance. They had to realize they worked better together. Yet as usual, life laughed at his face once more.

The situation looked way worse than he imagined. The streets of Stormwind were filling up with frightened and confused refugees. Those who knew the healing arts went from top to bottom helping as much as they could. Anduin joined the best group of healers to treat those who had third-degree burns or those who struggled between life and death after inhalation injuries.

When the sun began to disappear by the sea, Anduin was able to have a short break. He prayed to the Light the meeting of leaders would not get out of control in favor of personal revenge.

Genn went looking for him when the initial meeting happened Leaders of each race and representatives of their new allies met again after a long time adjourned. When Anduin came into the room, it was obvious that they had been arguing for a long time and already came to a conclusion. As soon as the doors closed, the atmosphere became terribly heavy and tense.

“They will pay…” Tyrande began, clearly angry. “They have to pay for this, these dogs cannot have an excuse this time..”

“Tyrande, please calm down.” Velen suggested.

“Calm down? Have you seen the horrors these dogs have committed? No Velen, no. Either we take action on this or I take it on my own” Tyrande replied.

“That won't help you at all.” Genn said. “I'm as angry as you are, but if we go without a plan, we won't get anything done.”

“We need to organize,” said Anduin. “It’s obvious we were misled on the Horde’s movements in Silithus.”

“How is it possible that the SI:7’s report was wrong?” Tyrande asked.

“Because not everyone inside the Horde is an idiot,” Mathias intervened. “This type of mistakes isn’t a novelty. They have some clever people, like it or not." Tyrande just snorted.

“For now,” Anduin began in an attempt to pacify Tyrande. “both the Gilneans and the Night Elves are welcome to stay in Stormwind and take all the time they need to comfort themselves and heal the wounded. With time, I trust the Exodar and Ironforge can open the doors to refugees as well instead of just saturating a single Alliance city. We have to help each other in these trying times.” Anduin looked at Velen and the dwarves that formed the Council of the Three Hammers, and all nodded in agreement.

“And what about the Horde? What do we do?” Tyrande insisted. Anduin sighed at this.

“Can we reconquer Darkshore?” Mekkatorque asked.

“I don't think it's possible right now…” Genn intervened. “Everyone is focusing their attention there at the moment. However, there is a place where we could deliver a hard blow…” The others looked to Genn expectantly. “I think it's a good time to recover something that belongs to the Alliance, some place the Warchief claims as her own.”

“You aren't speaking of Lordaeron, are you?” Mathias asked, Genn's face only confirmed the theory.

“Right now, the Horde is in Kalimdor. If we attack Lordaeron, not only will the Forsaken lose their capital, we will also seize a perfect strategic point.”

“In the future we will be able to recover Gilneas.” said Alleria.

With those words, Anduin saw a glimmer of hope in Genn’s eyes. He had always desired to return to his real home and Anduin was willing to help him. If there was something the young king had undoubtedly valued, it was Genn's ability to swallow his hatred of the Forsaken on many occasions. After a long time trying, he finally understood that the undead were not all evil. However, every time Sylvanas was mentioned, one of Genn’s eyebrow would twitch. And whenever Gilneas came into discussion, a glimpse of hope reflected in his eyes.

“We could recover Gilneas, yes…” Genn said with a half sigh. “Anduin, you should give the orders early in the morning to our troops and prepare for an assault on Lordaeron in at least two days.”

“What?” Anduin could not help but sound surprised. “So soon?”

“Why so surprised, your majesty?” This time Turalyon spoke and Anduin tensed. “The Horde is occupied in another continent, an assault now is the best idea, or do you doubt this?”

“Is not that, it's just… we still have to evacuate people and defend them, of course. I still have good soldiers in Kalimdor defending our people.”

“Order their return as soon as possible, this assault is too large to lack people.”

“Is this what you all decided while I was on my way here?” the silence that followed Anduin's question was enlightening enough, it was obvious that they wanted war.

“We are all agree.” said Tyrande. “Give the order, your majesty.”

Tyrande's tone denoted so much impatience enough to annoy even Anduin. He was convinced many would claim vengeance, but also hoped some would take it easy. Anduin was very surprised with Velen especially, he was one of the most peaceful members of the Alliance and tended to help calm things down. Anduin also thought Genn would support him more given the circumstances lately, but nothing was enough. Anduin sighed and looked at Mathias.

“You already know who to talk to. I want you to mostly talk to Halford, I want the Seventh Legioninthe lead. I'm going to give a couple of warnings to my commanders in Stormwind too.“ Anduin looked at Genn. ”I want to speak to you later.”

After that last statement, the meeting was concluded and everyone started to leave. As soon as Anduin came out the door, he felt terribly tired. It had been a very long day.

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The rest of the afternoon passed without further news. Anduin dedicated himself to giving orders to commanders about regrouping and new recruits, all against the clock as the assault would soon arrive. He was not enthusiastic about it and almost had to accept the proposal by obligation. He often wondered if the Light could really give him the peace he expected or if his dream of a peaceful world was nothing more than what he dreamed when he was a child, all those dreams and hopes seemed more and more distant.

Anduin was in one of the most comfortable offices in the castle where all the information on his military power was stored safely and quickly away from unauthorized people. Anduin did not stop looking at all the papers on military movements, lately everything was about sending troops to Darnassus and missives where they reported the dead. That was definitely the worst part. How was he going to tell a wife and daughter that their man was not coming back? How to tell a father that he will not be able to see his daughter again? How many couples had been broken? And how was he going to explain to the families of the new recruits that perhaps he was going to take his relatives to a horrible death? A few soft knocks on the door took him out of his thoughts.

“Come in.”

Genn opened the door and gave a half smile to the young king as he crossed the room and sat down next to him.

“I think you said you wanted to talk.”

“Yes, but it's just a question, have you changed your mind?” Genn frowned.

“Regarding what?”

“You told me once you understood the Horde can’t necessarily be bad, you even shared my vision about arriving to a peace. So, have you changed your mind?” more than curious, the question was accusing.

“I also told you that such peace wouldn’t be possible if a certain Warchief was in charge, and if I remember correctly, you agreed with me.”

“I know, Sylvanas isn't someone you can talk to. But I didn't expect you to show a warlike attitude either, Genn.”

“Boy… I wish we lived in a fair world where we all respected each other, but you know that this is nothing more than a delusional dream, we don't live in that world.”

“I expected you to support me a little more, go to war with soldiers who have seen the horror of Teldrassil… Not to mention the psychological damage that some will have not only of this, no, the scar left by the Burning Legion still persists in the minds of many.”

“Anduin.”

“You know it's true. We haven't stopped for a second, Genn. War after war… We recently got rid of the Burning Legion and now I have to force them into another war? Again?”

“There is no other solution. Deep inside you know it. The Horde hasn't stopped and we can't just resign. Is it hard? Of course it is, but we must keep our heads up, all together.” Anduin just showed a sad look. ”I know you're a little stressed and I know you don't like war. You're a pacifist, I get it, this isn’t your thing, but there is no other way.”

Anduin had to look away at some lost point in the room when that feeling of exhaustion flogged him again, he tried to make a ball of it and hid it somewhere in his body. He looked back at Genn in an attempt to change the subject.

“How is your wife?” Genn's gaze softened.

“Fine. Although she spent a lot of time breathing smoke while trying to save everyone, I was able to get her out of there in time, now she just needs to rest. She's a little altered.”

“Because of the smoke?”

“More because the things she shouldn’t have seen. She probably blames herself for not having done more and also saw all the horror first hand, Kaldorei and Gilnean burning alike. It's not an image you easily forget.”

“I'm sorry… I-”

At that moment the door opened without warning and Mathias appeared somewhat altered.

“Pardon the intrusion, but we have to talk.”

Anduin could notice the serious tone of the leader of the SI:7 and shrugged a little. For a few seconds, he began to think about the horrible news that Shaw could communicate to him.

“What has the Horde done now?” wanted to know Genn.

“Not the Horde” Anduin and Genn looked at each other bewildered.

“What's wrong, Shaw?” Said Genn.

“It turns out some guards captured an important criminal a few minutes ago, he was heading to the castle.”

“Important criminal?” Anduin asked. “From the Horde?”

“No.”

“Did he intend to attack?”

“Neither,” Anduin began to wonder. “he has insisted a lot to talk to you, your majesty.”

“Wait a moment,” Genn intervened. “a criminal doesn't have a voice nor a vote, lock him in the dungeons and don't let him confuse us in delicate moments like these.”

“Anduin, I think you should see this.”

By his voice, both kings began to think that it was really important. Mathias was not one of those who would joke around, he was always the man who handled the most serious matters. Anduin sighed and straightened up.

“Okay, where is he?”

Mathias told them to follow him. As they walked through the aisles, Anduin began to feel unquiet. That criminal was not from the Horde and just wanted to talk to him. How good could that be? If everything went well, it would settle quickly. It was probably someone from some lost kingdom who wanted to beg for forgiveness and protection. After turning a corridor, they came to a large wooden door that led to a hall. Anduin watched as Mathias sighed before opening the door.

Anduin did not know what to expect, nothing could ever prepare him for what followed.. As soon as he entered and saw who was standing there, he froze immediately shocked by surprise and bewilderment.

Right there in the middle of the room was a familiar face, a betrayer’s face that only provoked a painful memory. Anduin could not believe that the one who was standing there was the black dragon Wrathion.

Although the young king recognized him in a second, Genn took several more seconds to react.

“You… You!” Genn took a few steps towards Wrathion. “What are you doing here?”

“Some guards caught him when he was walking up the stairs to the castle.” explained Mathias. “They don't know where he came from.”

“Just like that? One of the dragons that helped Garrosh escape has the nerve to show his face around here?”

“Apparently.”

Anduin wondered if he really was looking at Wrathion. After three years, he had convinced himself the dragon died and would never have to see him again. However, there he was, standing and staring at him. Like Anduin, Wrathion had not moved from the spot and it seemed he failed to the presence of the other two men, he just looked at Anduin with an expression of confusion mixed with surprise. If there was something that caught Anduin's attention, it was how bewildered Wrathion seemed to be, and worse, he was not sure what his eyes were showing, they had a very sad and empty look. He failed to grasp any meaning.

“Leave us alone.”

Genn looked at Anduin surprised.

“Hey, Anduin-”

“Leave us.”

The serious tone of Anduin was enough for Genn to decide not to argue. He knew the young king would take it personally. The Gilnean king gestured to Mathias to leave but before that, he looked at Wrathion.

“If you do something strange you'll regret it, dragon.” despite saying it in a threatening way, Wrathion did not flinch.

“We will be right behind the door if something goes wrong.”

Mathias and Genn left, leaving both boys alone and the silence began to bury the room. Anduin was still in shock and he wasn’t sure what to say or do, his first instinct was to punch him or scream at him. The dragon was more or less the same, wearing the same clothes, now worn, like the last time he saw him. All the jewelry he used to wear was gone, his hair was also somewhat longer. Wrathion suddenly seemed to come out of his own trance and made a gesture to speak.

“You've grown a lot.”

Anduin could react a little when he heard Wrathion. He remembered his voice well when they had met. A youthful voice, soft and silky charged with positive energy that was sometimes brushed with arrogance; but now his voice had become a little deeper and, above all, very tired, as if he was exhausted from a long trip. Any trace of the voice he remembered vanished. He also realized the dragon had grown up as well. Last time he saw him, Anduin was slightly taller than him but now Wrathion was several inches above the young king. Anduin felt a rush of anger and began to take a few steps towards him.

“I'd like to talk to you, it's very important-”

Wrathion could not finish the sentence. The moment Anduin was in front of him, he punched Wrathion on the left cheek with all his strength. Wrathion barely moved, but he closed his eyes and looked hurt.

“I knew it…”

“Sorry,” Anduin grabbed his hand as if it had moved on it’s own will. “I shouldn't have done that.”

“It doesn't matter.” Wrathion recovered again. “I need to talk to you-” this time Anduin slapped him on the other cheek. “Good talk…”

“Give me a reason to not continue.”

“Anduin…”

“I mean it” Wrathion raised his hands as if he wanted to stop him.

“I wouldn't have come if it wasn't very important.”

“Really? And what is so important?”

“I need your help.”

Anduin couldn’t avoid laughing at the comment. He walked away from Wrathion trying to regain his composure wondering if this was all a joke.

“I have to admit that I needed the laugh, I didn’t see this coming.”

“I'm glad to know I made you laugh, but I'm serious.” Anduin looked at him again.

“Seriously? After all these years, you come here to ask for help? After all, nothing has ever happened, right?”

“I didn't come to deny my mistakes, I don't expect your forgiveness either, I just need a little help and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important.” Anduin felt uncomfortable, Wrathion disconcerted him, he had never seen him like that. He also couldn’t understand what Wrathion was really doing here. He approached the dragon again in a defiant manner.

“Where have you been?”

“What?”

“All these years, where have you been?” Wrathion looked doubtful.

“I've been a dream,” Anduin blinked at that response. “stuck in the past.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No. It's the truth” Anduin sighed.

“Did you really think you could come here and that I would give you all the help you wanted?”

“Not really, I expected you to kill me as soon as you saw me.”

“I can still do it.”

“I just need some information, after that I can leave and we don't have to see each other again if that’s what you want.”

“Are you stupid?” Anduin sounded indignant. “Or maybe you think I am?”

“I don't.”

“Then what? Nothing that has happened is forgotten.”

“I’m not asking you to forget. Look, you can execute me later if you want, I only ask that you put anything that has happened between us aside for a moment.”

“No!” Anduin raised his voice a little. “Don't you see I can't trust you?” Wrathion seemed hurt. “After what you did, I can't trust you in any way. You’re a manipulator and you don't think about anything else but yourself and your stupid ends, I can't.”

“Anduin…”

“No. I thought we were friends. You hurt me.”

The silence became overwhelming, Wrathion had a look of half hurt at first and his left hand began to tremble a bit, yet he hid it behind his back. Instead, he raised his other hand as if trying to apologize.

“Whatever happened between you and me,” he began. “I swear it was never my intention to hurt you.”

“Well, you did, and I don't believe you.”

“It was stupid,” he admitted. “I should never have done anything like this in my life, I should never have freed Garrosh and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I can't change the past, but I can mend it. It's not about me, or anyone else, it's about saving the world.”

“What are you looking for here?”

“Certain information from the past. I need to access some books I know are in Stormwind. Then, as I said, I'll go and we don’t have to see each other.”

“I don't believe you,” Anduin's voice had become a whisper. “I can't do this anymore. I don't know what you're looking for exactly, but I'm not going to offer you any help.”

“Anduin, please” Wrathion's voice had also changed to a whisper.

“No, no…” Wrathion's gaze suddenly turned into the most absolute emptiness that Anduin had ever seen and, without warning, the dragon fell on his knees and begged.

“Really, I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn't important, please.”

“I said no. Can't you see? I can't trust you, I know you have hidden plans, I'm not an idiot. I'm not trusting you again knowing you can do the same as you did three years ago.”

Anduin went to the door leaving Wrathion almost paralyzed and called Mathias and Genn to take Wrathion away, the dragon did not put up any resistance when they took him outside.

“Shall we execute him, my king?” suggested Genn. The way it was said betrayed the desire he had.

“No. Lock him in the dungeons, as it was originally suggested.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Genn sent guards to escort the prisoner. The truth was that Anduin did not feel bold enough to kill Wrathion, he had to find out more about him and what plan he was up to. Black dragons had a more than justified reputation of manipulation that could not be ignored. If Wrathion was searching for something in Stormwind and such a thing was indeed important, Anduin wanted to know. Before going to his bedroom, he turned to Mathias.

“I need you to do something important.”

“I'm listening.”

“I don't think Wrathion came alone. In the past, he had many agents at his disposal, it’s likely that there will be some infiltrators in the city. I need you to find them, if Wrathion doesn't want to volunteer anything, maybe one of his followers will.”

“As you wish, your majes-”

“Anduin.”

“My apologies. As you wish, Anduin.”

Mathias retreated into the darkness of the castle and Anduin hoped that Wrathion’s whole slew of lies would be uncovered at once.

As soon as Anduin was able to lie down on his bed, a cluster of thoughts assaulted his mind. First, he thought on the Horde’s actions and the loss of something as beautiful as Teldrassil. He had rarely been to Darnassus, but he remembered the place as one of the most breathtaking forests that ever existed and he regretted not visiting more often.

Then he thought about Wrathion. He still didn’t know what to think of him and unsure of his feelings when he saw him. He could sum up that he felt angry about Wrathion deciding to show up and believe he was going to help him. Anduin also had to admit he felt a little relieved to see him alive. Regardless of what he had done, Wrathion was still his first real friend. Yet, if something that caught his attention that evening, it was the dragon seeming very changed, not in appearance necessarily. He had only grown in that sense. The dull tone of his voice had something that disturbed him completely and the emptiness of his red eyes could only relate to the look of a soldier that had witnessed a terrible death toll

After ruminating over everything, Anduin was overwhelmed by the exhaustion of the day and soon fell asleep.

It had been a very long day.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Right now while I write this I have about 39 written chapters (yes, and more to come) so if you wonder when I will update... I don't know, translation will be slow because I need help, sorry about that, I hope it isn't annoying.  
Anyway, if you know Spanish and want to see my original writing, go to my Spanish post, chapters there will update faster, if you only want to read in english sorry for the long waits.  
But if you decide to accompany me on this I thank you. See you.


	2. Prelude to war

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I didn't forget. But I have to announce something. I will go without revision, so, only with my knwoledge... so it means it will be bad written but I think the plot (which I consider the only interesting thing) is perfectly understandable. I just I don't want to bother people, people who is bussy and don't have the free time I have. Also I don't want to update every one month, so as long I can write understandable and you can forgive my grammar mistakes or not be elocuent enough it should be okay.  
Thanks!

He would never have believed, but lately Anduin found a great ally in coffee. If he didn’t have one in the morning, he could not be himself. Yet today, not even coffee could save him. All through morning and much of noon plotting assault tactics on Lordaeron proved to be more exhausting than he had ever imagined. Not even the best vacations he could imagine were going to be relaxing enough for Anduin after such a day. Of course they had to do it cautiously and be meticulous on how to attack, but with so many opinions of how it should be done it only led to more arguments driven by anger and resentment.  
To Anduin’s surprise, Genn took the assault much more calmly instead of taking it personally and it was a great relief. Perhaps their previous conversation yesterday ended up relaxing him somewhat.  
Once the meeting was over, both kings ate together and discussed all the units they had for the attack. Most soldiers of all races have already returned to Stormwind and waited patiently for instructions. Most of them showed very warlike attitudes.  
  


"You know," Genn said. "my daughter and her SI:7 group will return in a few minutes."

"Really? Did everything go well?"

"It looks like it did. When Mathias told me he was kind of satisfied. Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"I'm going with my wife now, would you mind if you welcome Tess and tell her where we are?"

"No problem. Besides, we haven't talked for a long time."  
  


Genn smiled almost fatherly and left the table. Anduin was delighted to see a familiar face at last.

When the Burning Legion attacked last year, Mathias Shaw was supplanted by a demon and doomed the first major assault on what was known as The Broken Shore. Such was the failure that as soon as the truth was known, Mathias wanted to resign. However, it was Tess the one who dissuaded him. Once the SI:7 leader was sure to maintain his position, Tess was invited to join the SI:7 under Mathias' supervision and after Genn's permission since Mia did not agree at the beginning. Fortunately, Tess ended up standing out as a spy and earned several awards for her work.  
The only thing Anduin regretted was how little they saw each other last months. At first, she was assigned to track down demons that were still wandering all over the Eastern Kingdoms and subsequently the constant surveillance in Silithus to watch the Horde closely. Her last job was to find out how the Horde had fooled the Alliance into believing that there would not be a massive attack on Teldrassil.

Anduin arrived at a busy harbor where he quickly located Tess' small group and approached as he gestured towards her. When Tess realized, she ran to give him a friendly hug.  
  


"Look who we have here!" she exclaimed while hugging him.

"I'm also glad to see you!"

"It should be illegal not speaking for so long."

"It should."

They both separated and began to walk towards the castle slowly. Tess linked arms with Anduin

"How was your mission?" Anduin asked curiously. "Did you find out anything?"

"Of course. I should communicate every detail to Mathias first, but since you're the boss of my boss I'll make an exception."

"Tell me, tell me."

"The team that was assigned to observe the Horde in Silithus discovered something weird was happening, strange departures of troops that never came back and those things… But just when the truth was uncovered, or they were all killed or captured. The Horde didn't let anyone escape, they were very meticulous."

"Did you find the bodies then?"

"And also two survivors, but they didn't last long… they were sick, only the Light knows with what. They said they were captured by some Forsaken and little else."

"Did they give information to the Forsaken?"

"They didn’t. They were good soldiers, so I don't think so."

"Who knows what they did to them, especially the Forsaken aren't nice when it comes to this."

"Small details… How are you, by the way?" Tess touched his cheek with her finger, Anduin almost laughed at such question.

"Saturated, tired, stressed…"

"I figured, it won't have been easy to evacuate Teldrassil."

"It's even worse. I guess you've heard about the assault on Lordaeron, right?"

"I heard that, everyone's blood is probably boiling if they want to attack so soon. Are you going?"

"I have to go."

"Surely you agree on this."

"Yes, yesterday I couldn't sleep because it makes me happy killing someone." Anduin smiled at his own irony.

"Is it true what I heard from the guards?"

"What, exactly?"

"That we have a black dragon locked in the dungeons." Anduin felt a knot in his stomach.

"Yes, it is. This was supposed to be a secret but I see everyone is finding out."

"I guess it's the same one that took part in Garrosh's escape."

"Yes, it's Wrathion," Anduin stopped "why did you say 'the same'?"

"Don't you know there is another black dragon?" Anduin looked surprised.

"Well, no."

"Do you know who the leader of the HighMountain taurens is?"

"Mayla HighMountain."

"Well, she has a kind of adviser, or whatever they want to call it, which is an old uncorrupted black dragon. He’s with the Horde now and someone leaked his true nature."

"I thought Wrathion was the only black dragon, great." Anduin felt uncomfortable now.

"What will you do with the one we have here?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Tess decided not to ask any more questions about it, she noticed Anduin being uncomfortable talking about it. Instead, they chatted about the places she had to visit on her return until they reached the castle.

"I have to report to Mathias." Tess said. "Then I'll find my parents."

"I'm sure your mother will be happy to see you well."

"Aren't you coming?"

"I have to do something first."

"Okay, see you later."

The truth was that Anduin did not want to annoy in what could be a happy family reunion. He was not part of the Greymane family although he was treated as such sometimes. On more than one occasion, people who wanted to find a wife for him, had suggested that he should marry Tess and unite Stormwind with Gilneas in a political way so both families would be bounded, but they both rejected such proposition. For Tess, she considered Anduin as a little brother and she found it difficult to look at him differently. Anduin on the other hand, considered himself to be a little young for her and preferred her friendship a thousand times. There was another reason why Anduin had rejected several marriage suggestions: he was not going to marry someone he did not love. No suggestions nor parents trying to sell their daughters to the highest bidder. It was something that only concerned him.

Anduin was now in the castle library desperately looking for one of his favorite books. When he and Tess parted ways, he wanted to talk to Wrathion and try to find out something else, he felt impatient for some reason. As soon as he found it under a lot of dust, he ran to the dungeons.

Anduin still didn’t know what to say or what he wanted to know exactly. He felt annoyed at himself for wanting to know more about the dragon when they were no longer friends and he shouldn’t be interested in what Wrathion did in the past or where he was. But still with his best efforts, he felt intrigued.

As soon as he greeted the dungeon guards, there was something he was very tempted to ask once they were face to face. Did Wrathion know about the other black dragon? Anduin remembered that many times in Pandaria, Wrathion had boasted about being the last black dragon in Azeroth. Would he get angry to know he wasn't? Would he be jealous? The single idea of bothering Wrathion with this made him smile inside.  
After turning a corner, he found the cell at last. He could see someone put long chains on the dragon's wrists and he was sitting on the floor with his head down. Seconds later, Wrathion raised his head when he noticed Anduin's presence and looked somewhat surprised and expectant.

"Hello." for some reason, Anduin thought he noticed a glimmer of thrill in Wrathion's voice

"I see you have settled well in your new home, is it your style?"

"It's as dark as my old home, I feel pretty good in here."

Anduin frowned a little at such answer, but decided to ignore it. Without knowing very well what to say, he delivered the book he had previously taken, the book fell a few centimeters from Wrathion. The dragon picked it up and removed the dust embedded in the cover where the title “The Adventures of Aaron and Kalevin” was written. Wrathion began to flip through the pages quickly.

"In case you get bored." Anduin wanted to clarify. Wrathion looked at him when he finished looking through the entire book.

"It doesn't have drawings?" Wrathion smiled in such a way that Anduin reminded the Wrathion he met in Pandaria, a half ironic smile that sometimes drove him nuts.

"If you don't want it…" Anduin stretched his arm between the bars so Wrathion could return it, but the dragon kept it.

"I'll give it a try."

"I guess it wasn't the book you were looking for."

"No. This will be more boring I think."

"I doubt it. It was my favorite book when I was a child. The adventures and misadventures of a human and a dwarf who made a living seeking treasures all around Azeroth, it was very entertaining. Sometimes I thought I would do the same, it seemed like a fun life."

"I bet you still want to do it." Anduin smiled at that comment.

"I would."

He had probably just confessed one of his most shameful secrets. Anduin could never devote himself to a life where he traveled all over the world looking for the most succulent hidden treasures or discovering titanic ruins buried eons ago. Deep down, he had wished to have this kind of life, far away from responsibilities while walking through all over the world, a dream it would never be granted. Anyone would have laughed at that hidden desire and would have called him childish, however, Wrathion looked at him comprehensively. Anduin always knew he could say these things only with him.

"Why did you come to see me?" the dragon wanted to know and Anduin knew he had to be careful.

"I want to know why you really came here. What kind of books are you looking for."

"A long time ago, shortly after Stormwind was first built, humans who called themselves 'the wisest of Stormwind' stole some books that came from southern Kalimdor. They hid them among the city's libraries by saying the were ordinary books."

"What is written on them?" Wrathion smiled in a somewhat mysterious way.

"Nothing anyone here can understand."

"Do you think we're dumb?"

"No, I think… Well, rather I know nobody here will understand the language in which they're written."

"And why did you decide to ask me instead of manipulating everyone, as you usually do, and get them on your own?"

"I think some are locked. But above all I wanted to do things well, be kind." Anduin laughed at this statement even though Wrathion had sounded totally honest.

The young king leaned against the bars and spoke as seriously as possible.

"Do you know what's happening in the world right now?"

"Probably better than everyone."

"Teldrassil has been burned. The Horde has declared war." Wrathion suddenly seemed angry.

"I know, they never learn."

"There is one of yours among them, did you know?" Wrathion blinked. "I suppose you're somehow involved, obviously… family matters."

"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I’m talking about the other black dragon." Wrathion frowned.

"Ebyssian?"

"Do you know him?" Wrathion snorted loudly and growled under his breath.

"Kind of, I only saw him once."

"Didn't you tell me you were the last black dragon?"

"When I told you that I didn't know about his existence. I saw him for the first time last year for a few moments, nothing else."

"Now he's in the Horde."

"I already knew he was a jerk. And don't get this wrong, he isn't one of mines."

Wrathion looked aside and unwilling to say anything more. Anduin sighed, regretted talking to him and increasingly doubted if he was the real Wrathion. Every time he tried to compare him with the dragon he met years ago, he was more certain that whoever he met had been lost somewhere. Perhaps Anduin thought very naively he would once again feel comfortable enough with someone who was quite detached from the Alliance and would allow him to speak more freely, he was tempted to have his friendship again. Anduin shook his head. That could not be, Wrathion was a traitor and could not deny it only by an inner hope. But before leaving, he decided to announce something.

"We're going to make an assault on Lordaeron." Wrathion looked at him inexpressive. "Many think it's revenge."

"Is it?"

"Depends on who you're asking to."

"Is it for you?" Anduin shook his head.

"I don't seek revenge, I didn't want this situation to start."

"And why don't you refuse?"

"It's not that easy."

"Maybe it is but you don't want to see it. What’s wrong? Don't they take you seriously?" Anduin felt anger inside after hearing that and felt offended.

"You know nothing."

"Actually, I do. Why do you want to fight that battle? You must have some reason." the young king hesitated a little.

"If we control the city and rebuild it, I'll give it to the Kaldorei to live there. In time, we'll also take Gilneas and gave it back to the Gilnean people." Wrathion looked surprised one moment and smiled at Anduin.

"At least you do it for a good cause. Although I don't agree with this war."

"What other cause did you expect?"

"That this farce would end." Anduin was surprised.

"What farce are you talking about?"

"One in which you're all stupid and aren't able to see beyond. Sometimes I would like to see how everything explodes in your faces, both the Horde and the Alliance. If you were smarter, you would team up to deal with threats far bigger than the stupid faction pride."

"And that threat is...?"

"I won't be the one to tells you that, go and find it out alone as I had to do it." Anduin again felt a growing anger towards the dragon.

"Well, I hope you get very bored here for the rest of your life, Wrathion."

Anduin walked a few steps away from the cell, he had enough talk. But suddenly he heard Wrathion's voice once more.

“I wouldn’t like you to get hurt or killed from all this. Be very careful in that assault, Anduin.”

Deep down, Anduin wanted to turn around and ask him why he cared for him now, but instead, he sighed and left the dungeons.

He still questioned his brilliant idea of going to talk to him. First, he hadn't figured out anything, he just had more questions. And Second, Wrathion's attitude was increasingly strange. Neither he understood what could be the reason Wrathion agreed to not start a war and both factions should team up. He was also quite intrigued about what kind of threat the dragon was referring to and could not imagine what it could be. Obviously it could not be the Horde since, in a way, he had declared that it was best to join them. The Burning Legion was defeated. What was it then?

Anduin began to feel very restless. What if while everyone was distracted with their quarrels in Silithus because of the Azerite something important happened? Something that everyone missed and there really was something out there threatening. The young king shook his head. No, now he shouldn’t be in constant paranoia at times like this. By the Light, he was going to his first real battle tomorrow! If he let himself be influenced by Wrathion's words now, he couldn’t be one hundred percent tomorrow.

That night, Anduin had dinner with all the Greymane and it was probably one of the best evenings he had in several months. Mia was quite recovered from Teldrassil's attack, most likely seeing her daughter safe and sound cheered her up more than she imagined, she no longer had that trace of paleness on her face. When they said goodbye, it was an almost definitive goodbye because Anduin would not see them until, at least, after the assault on Lordaeron if he survived. The women assured that whatever happens, they will remember him in their prayers forever and promised they would be responsible for keeping the kingdom afloat with all their might. Anduin played dumb a little, saying nothing serious would happen and everything would go smoothly, but reality on the other hand was very different.

Inside of him, the young king was only feeling a fear he had never felt, a fear that pressed too hard against his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wanted Anduin and Tess to be friends, it's a little complain I have with Blizzard. Good think I can do it in fanfiction


	3. Lonely

For just a moment, as watching the weight of the legacy, Anduin felt somewhat proud. Standing there, he contemplated himself wearing what was once his grandfather's armor and, in his hand, his father's sword. That pride did not last long. First, he began to feel that he was not yet worthy of wearing such legendary things, he was young and had a lot to prove. But the second feeling was even bigger, he didn't want to be the black sheep of his family. It did not mean that he was afraid of doing things wrong or be totally unworthy, it was rather that he wanted to make a name, his own name, instead of being just ‘Llane's grandson’ or ‘Varian's son’. He wanted to be ‘The king Anduin’ and not live under a shadow. Despite everything, he was afraid of the battle in which he had to participate today. He had barely slept and the little he could he experienced a series of nightmares imagining the worst. Anduin didn't know if he was fully prepared and didn't want to make a fool of himself.  
After a while, Genn entered the room.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes… I think so." Genn looked at him with a smile.

"The armor looks good on you. I'm sure your father would be proud of you." Anduin smiled at the idea, but soon thought about what his father would say if he discovered how doubtful the young king was right now and his smile vanished. "Are you ok, boy?"

"Yes, of course. I'm just a little nervous, that's all."

"You know you don't fool me easily."

"I'm not lying." Genn took a quick and exaggerated look around the room.

"There is no one here, you can tell me what you think."

"Well…" Anduin gave up. "I'm very scared, okay? Sorry I'm not the warrior everyone expects."

"Boy, boy…" Genn came over him and laid his hands on Anduin's shoulders. "No one in the first battle has been brave one hundred percent, don't be fooled. We have all felt fear the first time."

"Even you?"

"I wanted to hide the first time and that doesn't make me the worst warrior in the world."

"But I'm a priest, I gave myself to the Light, I swore I’d help every being in the world, not harm or kill them. How am I going to deal with that exactly? What if I am not what I think I am?"

"That, Anduin, nobody can tell you. You'll have to find it out yourself on the battlefield, only there you'll see who you really are. If I'm honest, I don't think you'll find out you're a bad person."

"Are you sure?"

"Totally." Genn's gaze became the most paternal and soft thing Anduin had seen. "I want you to know that… if you find yourself cornered, in any way, or feel fear or don't know what to do, know that I'll be here for you all the time.”

"Thank you."

Anduin felt a little calmer. Genn was right, he didn’t know how he would react if he doesn’t go, he had to. Sylvanas had made her position of hatred clear, she wouldn’t fight for peace in the world, she would fight with the urge to kill everyone. Maybe she wasn't even going to fight for the Horde at all. Anduin was sure he would not fight for the same reasons. He would fight for his people and for the entire Alliance, to grant them the peace they always deserved, so future generations would never know something as horrible as war, even if he had to push his morals aside for a while to do so. Anduin was sure he was not to blame for it and things were twisted in a way that it was inevitable to go to war.

Despite that, he had to repeat it several times in his head to believe it a bit before leaving.

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The news spread faster than everyone thought, the good and the bad news. By the time Anduin returned to Stormwind after a long trip, everyone already knew what happened. The assault on Lordaeron had been a success in a way. The Horde lost one of its most important cities and with it, the Forsaken were left without their personal city. But with the cost that the whole place was now bathed in blight and was completely uninhabitable. Anduin was very angry with this, he did not see coming that Sylvanas was willing to do such a thing in case they would lose. He couldn't guess if that was a desperate play or she simply assumed they were going to lose since the beginning and played with them anyways, he didn't know what got on his nerves more. He was especially angry that he could not grant the place to the Kaldorei as their new home and be able to rebuild their lives more or less, nor could he use the city as a strategic point to recover Gilneas, the young king felt frustrated. Despite that, he tried to see the bright side. Now the presence of the Horde in the northern part of the Eastern Kingdoms had decreased and perhaps they could finally control much better the Azerite coming from those areas.

If there was anything that could ease his anger it was the fact that Jaina had returned and came to his aid in the most needy moment. At least a year had passed since he last saw her, after his father's death. Jaina got angry when everyone agreed to work with the Horde to defeat the Burning Legion, even though Anduin tried to dissuade her, she didn’t want to come to her senses and ended up cutting ties with the world. It was never known where Jaina went or what she did during the invasion, but for some reason, she returned during the assault on Lordaeron controlling a gigantic flying ship. Anduin had so many questions and he didn't know what to say, so he just hugged her.

There was another matter that required a lot of attention. Genn call it 'the catch of the day' as if it were the best fish ever fished in the history of humanity, and it wasn’t surprising, since it was the High Overlord Varok Saurfang who they had imprisoned. Anduin didn't want to say anything to the others, but he had the feeling that the orc and Sylvanas argued in bad ways. He didn't see a coherent explanation for Varok's decision to repel the entire Alliance himself while the other leaders of the Horde withdrew inside the castle, it made no sense.

It would still take a while until Anduin could take a break, there were still hours of sun and they needed to organize their entire army, know who were the fallen and help wounded. When he arrived at the castle he was greeted by a hug from Tess.

"You're alive!" she exclaimed with jubilation.

"I couldn't leave now." Anduin could hear a sneeze behind them.

"What about giving your father a hug?" Genn tried to sound indignant awkwardly. "Seriously, my daughter, you have no respect for me sometimes."

"It’s just that I’ve seen enough of you." she joked about it, but went straight to hug him.

Anduin smiled at the scene, the relationship between father and daughter now gave him some envy. Sometimes he had made this kind of jokes with his father in the past, but now he could no longer do it. He would give anything to enjoy such moments once again.  
Genn announced he had to talk to his wife and tell her he was alive and said goodbye temporarily.

"Captain," a tall boy with dark brown hair and green eyes wearing the SI:7 uniform approached them addressing Tess. "I have certain news to share. Oh, king Wrynn, I'm glad to see you safe."

"You can call me Anduin, Dereck." Anduin thought of all the times he had repeated saying that phrase.

"Apologies, I don't get used to it."

"You don't change, huh?" Tess said smiling. "Wait for me in the usual spot to talk."

"See you there." Dereck bowed. "By the way ki… Anduin, Mathias is looking for you."

"Okay, I'm going now. See you."

Dereck bowed again and left. Anduin looked at Tess with a half smile.

"'The usual spot'?"

"Oh, it's just a good place where nobody usually goes, it's perfect to talk about important things."

"I guess it’s also to do important 'things'."

"Well, well, I have to go and you have to look for my boss. They're expecting us both." Tess almost started to run away.

"Sure someone is expecting us. But for you it's more important, how would I say it, your boyfriend?" Tess turned around with a half indignant face.

"He's not my boyfriend, you idiot! Don't do that to me!"

Anduin laughed at Tess' reaction. It was no secret to him that she sighed every night for her beloved and most faithful companion in her small SI:7 group. The only thing he could not understand was why Tess had not yet told him what she feels because she put an eye on him since the first day they met. Anduin loved to annoy Tess with it often since she usually do the same with all the interested suitors and rumors about the young king's love life. But both understood it was a bit complicated for her to be with a nameless considering that she was the princess of Gilneas. Maybe Genn wanted a good catch for her and that stopped her continuously. But Anduin thought Tess could at least tell him what she felt at once.

Anduin walked tiredly to his room just to continue working and getting lost in his piles of papers from his desk which half of them didn't care about, but when approaching his bedroom, he found Mathias waiting at the door.

"Everything okay, Mathias?"

"Perfectly. The new orc prisoner is accommodated in the dungeons, as you requested."

"Good. He asked me for a clean death, did you know?"

"The orcs live for honor, I'm not surprised that he prefers to die in combat instead of being imprisoned. Why did you decide that? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"My father respected him, he's a great warrior, it didn't seem fair to me he would die that way."

"You shouldn't feel such sympathy for the enemy, if you allow me to say so."

"It's just a temporary decision." Anduin was tempted to share his suspicions that there was some kind of conflict within the Horde, but he decided to not say it for now. "I don't think you wanted to see me just to tell me this, right?"

"Well, I did what you asked me to do about the black dragon, about his allies." Anduin paid special attention.

"And…?"

"You might be surprised but… There is no one here." Anduin blinked.

"What?"

"I've been checking the city from top to bot and there is no one suspicious. I did some research too asking witnesses. He came on a boat from Ratchet and, from what the captain and crew told me, he boarded and disembarked alone. I asked people around the harbour too and they said the same thing, he was going alone to the castle until we arrested him."

"Are you completely sure about this?"

"I don't think I made a mistake, do you distrust my effectiveness?" Anduin took a moment to think.

"Of course not, I believe you. It's just that I'm a little… confused."

"Maybe you should rest for a while. After all, you just arrived from a battlefield."

Anduin nodded, said goodbye to the spy master and had never felt so much relief from being left alone in his room. After taking a long breath, he removed everything he was wearing on his way to the bed, jumped up to hug his pillow and began to lose himself in the folds of the sheets. Never before felt so physically and mentally exhausted. He let his body relax as much as he could and began to think about the day. He had killed for the first time and the feeling was a huge guilt that almost apologized to the bodies. Sylvanas half mocked him with it and made him feel worse about it. She suggested that he had found it easy to kill and peace was only an excuse, as if he had another option. However, Genn was right about his pre-battle conversation. He could see that he was neither a war-hungry warrior nor a ruthless murderer who enjoys the killing, he was still the priest who brings light and hope to the people no matter how bad the situation looked, that eased him a little. Even so, he prayed to the Light so that he would not be involved in any battle in a long time, he was somewhat traumatized with all the death to which he was exposed.

His thoughts also drifted to what Mathias told him: Wrathion came to Stormwind alone. He couldn't believe it was true, the dragon always had agents everywhere. Anduin remembered his time at the tavern in Pandaria where he had to stay while recovering from his injuries. There were always agents coming and going whispering information to Wrathion, that’s why the dragon knew everything. He could also remember the two bodyguards, an orc and a human, almost omnipresent, who were always by his side. The two menacing looking women never separated from Wrathion for some reason. How could he be alone now and why? Was it just another trick?

The young king understood less and less and felt more tired to the point of falling asleep

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Hard knocks on the door yanked the young king awake and away from his dark dreams. At first he felt completely disoriented until he realized that he had fallen asleep and blamed himself for it, he had too much work and shouldn't be sleeping! The knocks on the door came back and this time they sounded more insistent so Anduin dressed as he could and went to open, he found a somewhat disturbed and worried Genn.

"What happened?" Anduin asked in a hoarse voice.

"The Horde has infiltrated the city."

Anduin felt his heart skip a beat and put on his armor again, he couldn't let the war follow him to Stormwind.  
Once he arrived to the streets, the situation became clearer. It was a very small group that infiltrated the city and were using very sophisticated invisibility techniques, the soldiers had to use torches or the Light itself if they wanted to discover them. Anduin wondered again and again what was the intention of all this. Looking for revenge for Lordaeron? No, it couldn't be, with such a small group they couldn't make a mess if the streets were full of soldiers, it would be a suicide. He also began to consider that perhaps they wanted to set Varok Saurfang free . It was well past midnight and there were no civilians on the streets, only soldiers, agents of the SI:7 and a fine fog covering the narrowest areas.  
Although they had been looking for several minutes, nobody saw anything suspicious yet and the concern began to rise. What the hell were they up to?

When Anduin was in the square in front of the cathedral he saw Tess and Dereck running towards him beckoning.

"Anduin! It's horrible!" exclaimed Tess almost breathless.

"What happened?"

"The dungeons…" Dereck continued. "They were in the dungeons!"

“What?” Anduin blinked.

"Some prisoners have escaped with the Horde." Anduin considered the possibilities.

"Saurfang?"

"No," Anduin frowned. "the orc is still there. Two trolls and three low reward humans have escaped."

"What do you mean two tro-" Anduin stopped dead in his tracks. "Who else has escaped?"

"More? To my knowledge no one else." Anduin gripped Dereck’s shoulders.

"Are you completely sure that no one else has escaped except two trolls and three humans?"

"Yes… or, well… I'm not sure one hundred percent, we didn't check every cell yet…"

"Shit…" Anduin was quick to get on mount his horse.

"What’s wrong?" Tess asked.

"I have to check something."

"Wait, I go with you." Tess got on the horse as well, holding Anduin by the waist. "Dereck, warn my father that they have to be trying to escape right now."

"I'm on it, my captain."

Anduin spurred his horse hard and headed to the dungeons. If his suspicions were true, he had been the most neglected and naive person in Azeroth and kept blaming himself every second that passed. Tess began to notice Anduin's nervousness when she saw him insisting his horse to be faster.

"What's wrong, Anduin?"

"If they broke into the dungeons, they could have set free anyone!"

"Who are you thinking of?"

"Wrathion!" Tess tensed.

"Do you think he escaped?"

"Mathias told me there were none of his agents around here, what if he was with the Horde since the beginning? Maybe he only came in search for some sort of information and was going to be released afterwards. He could have fooled us with that. Didn't you tell me they had another black dragon in the Horde? They are family, damn it!"

"And what kind of information would he want for the Horde?"

"I don't know. I have to check it out, I have to…"

He could not finish the sentence because they arrived to the dungeons. They quickly got off the horse and entered the dungeons almost running. Several guards joined them as they glanced quickly through the cells. Anduin knew he was about to arrive where Wrathion was supposedly to be and noticed how his heart was racing. Was the dragon really the same old traitor or would he be…?

Anduin stopped as soon as he hit the bars panting heavily. Wrathion was lying there reading that book and almost did not flinch when the young king arrived.

"I'm glad to see you alive, Anduin."

It was the only thing he said without looking up from the book, but Anduin began to feel quite relieved to see he didn’t escape. Tess arrived to the cell too.

"I see the dragon is still here, although you won't like to know what trolls have escaped."

"Who?"

"Princess Talanji and the prophet Zul." Wrathion said in the distance. Anduin looked surprised.

"Zandalaris…"

"Yes. I saw them escape a while ago with three Horde agents. They said something about having a boat waiting so I would search near the harbor. I would hurry up if I were you."

Anduin didn't think it twice, they had to stop them. Together with Tess, they went outside only to find new news: Genn had found the intruders and called everyone to stop them, but then they encountered another big problem, the city was burning. There was chaos for a few minutes, the intruders set fire to several areas, a diversionary tactic for their escape. Anduin called as many soldiers as he could to extinguish the fire but neither the present shamans who mastered the element of water were suffice and the situation was getting completely out of control. It would have been a real chaos if it wasn't because Jaina arrived minutes later to save the day once again by conjuring the greatest spell of ice and water and covered the entire city with him.  
The cost was high. Thanks to Jaina’s help, the intruders and the two prisoners had successfully escaped. Anduin immediately ordered the persecution, if the ship had to sink, then so be it. Even with that, he now had to focus on his city and the burned areas. It was going to be a long night.

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When Anduin woke up, he realized that he hadn't really slept at all. Much of the previous night he helped to repair the damage and, when he returned to his room, the young king only took care of the paperwork on the table. Probably he didn't sleep more than three hours, and didn't feel like sleeping more. That day his entire body felt heavy like never before and thanked there were no people in the castle while he was wandering the halls like a ghost.  
The morning fog still persisted and the sun had risen recently, the city was still asleep. Anduin didn't know what to do, it was too early to bother someone important to end his boredom though… he could talk to someone who was not so important. Without thinking too much, he tightened his coat around himself and went out into the cold of the morning. He could still see people removing scorched wood and replacing the holes with new planks, without a doubt repairing all the damage would be long. When he entered the dungeons, the cold of the place overwhelmed him a little, he knew that the site was for criminals but wondered if he should improve certain aspects regarding the temperature. He had once again found himself in Wrathion's cell, still wondering why he was coming to talk to him. The dragon was awake and seemed surprised to see him.

"Haven't you gone to sleep yet?" the dragon asked quietly.

"I can't sleep more," Anduin admitted almost in a whisper. "I also have much to do."

"Really? What are you doing here then?"

"It's too early to work."

"You look very tired, you should sleep at nights."

"There's something I haven't stopped wondering last night."

"I don't think that caused you such insomnia…"

"Why didn't you escape with the Horde?" Wrathion looked at Anduin as if he had asked him the stupidest question in the world.

"And why would I go with that scum?"

"I don't know, I thought you had allied with them." Wrathion's laugh reverberated a little through the cell.

"Anduin, Anduin… I will never cooperate with those who…" he had to stop one second and think about what he was going to say. "I won't ally with the Horde that burned Teldrassil, ever."

"But you could have escaped, with them or not. Some prisoners took the opportunity to escape too, although they were already returned. I don’t understand you."

"Well, the truth is…" Wrathion took a few seconds of reflection and then looked at Anduin as seriously as possible. "All I want is in Stormwind. There is no reason to leave."

Anduin didn’t know very well how to react to that and just raised an eyebrow. He considered perhaps Wrathion was telling the truth, that he had nothing to do with the Horde and he was really on his own, but Anduin thought in some possible meaning hidden behind the dragon's words. He wanted to trust him, but it was hard. Wrathion smiled at him.

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to give me another book, I've read the one you gave me twice."

"Already?"

"Yes, if they are written in Common it is easy and fast to read," Wrathion threw the book almost at Anduin's feet, he reached it by passing his hand between bars. "If possible, I want another of your favorites."

"Why?"

"Curiosity. Besides, I want to make sure that I will see you again soon."

Anduin scratched his cheek and didn't know what to answer. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Anduin was sure he would visit him again and he didn't know if it was because of grief or because he missed his sincere friendship. The young king was aware that he needed a friend nowadays but he couldn't allow it to be Wrathion if he kept distrusting him.

"See you."

It was the only thing Anduin said before leaving, it was better not to stay there anymore or he would softening up. When he went out again, he saw that the city was awaking and thought he should return to the castle and endure all the discussions that would take place today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If for some reason you wonder why I didn't write about the Lordaeron assault it's just because I didn't feel like it's necesary. It's the same as the canon so... i just want to write the different thing. Also, I summed up it too.  
See you next time if you still want to read!


	4. The big deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, happy new year!! I hope you 2020 is full of joy and good things... and wranduin :) Second, sorry for taking too long to update, it's hard for me when I have a lot to explain and I overthink a lot, but I did my best. Still, sorry for grammar mistakes!

When Anduin arrived to the castle, he found Genn and Jaina talking in what seemed to be a very intense conversation. When they noticed the presence of the young king, they told him more bad news.

The ships that chased the fugitives were destroyed and only one sailor survived. The day had just barely started and Anduin was already wishing it ended once and for all.  
The survivor was quite disoriented and could not remember well but Jaina, with a spell, could make the sailor remember exactly what had happened a few hours ago and other bad news emerged. There was strong evidence that the Horde now had the Zandalaris as allies and with it one of the best fleets in Azeroth. How could they counter such an army now?  
Jaina then communicated what they were discussing so far.

"Maybe," Jaina started. "I can bring Kul Tiras back to the Alliance and dispose of the Kultiran fleet."

"Jaina," said Genn. "you're the reason they left the Alliance, I don't think they’ll welcome you with open arms, precisely." Jaina looked at him with a frown.

"Well," said Anduin. "I don't think it's such a bad idea to have the Kul Tiran fleet on our side, but do you think you can convince your people to join us?"

"I think I can do it, it's time for me to come back… home." Jaina seemed lost in her thoughts.

"I trust you, I know you can."

"What if it doesn't work out? Then what?" Genn asked.

"Then I hope you can deal well with the Zandalari army." Jaina said in a somewhat challenging voice that Genn could notice and seemed angry.

"Alright, let's not get nervous." Anduin tried to calm down. "I can tell a captain to take you to Kul Tiras, but I want a certain escort to go with you."

"I have no objection in this regard." said Jaina.

"Go to the harbor now, I'll send someone right away."

Of course Jaina could convince them even if it was difficult, Jaina was one of the smartest women on the planet. Anduin only regretted that he’d have to see her off farewell once more now that they’d finally met again after such a long time. The Zandalaris' alliance with the Horde was too much of a concern not to do anything about it. However, when Jaina left, Anduin had certain doubts. Why had she suggested bringing Kul Tiras back to the Alliance after she had been separated from the nation for such a long time? Maybe she spent too much time pondering during the Legion invasion or perhaps she simply missed her home, but it caused him some confusion.

"Anduin?" The young king came out of his own thoughts, apparently Genn had been talking to him.

"Yes?"

"I said that if Kul Tiras joining us again seems like a good idea, I should also go like Jaina." Anduin had to retain a resounding 'no'.

"Why?"

"I know how Kultirans are like. In the past I shared time with Daelin so I know how they are, that's why I want to go. I do it for you too."

Anduin understood very well why Genn said that and didn't like it at all. He understood that Genn cared for him and respected it, but he started to take the same protective role his father had years ago. Genn didn’t want anything to happen to Anduin, and to avoid such thing he was willing to subtly “lock him up” in his own castle, only because months ago Anduin had said he would leave the throne to him in case he died.  
Anduin understood, but he was always looking forward to going outside. Recently he had been on a small trip to Lordaeron and he felt very good even though most of the trip was by sea. This could be his chance to see a completely new nation and he was probably going to miss it.

"Are you going to leave me here alone?"

"Don't be dramatic, Anduin, you won't be alone, it's Jaina and I who are going, not everyone."

"But why you, specifically?"

"Do you prefer Alleria to go? Or maybe any of the dwarves? Better yet, Tyrande?" every new suggestion looked worse.

"Okay, I got it. It's just that I'm going to miss you."

"Boy…" Genn looked at him compassionately. "Look, once we have at least one guaranteed position you can come. I only ask for time, remember that in a way it's a place that could be hostile to us, I don't want to risk"

"What if something bad happens to you?"

"I promise nothing will happen."

Anduin gave him a hug, he didn't like the idea that the only one he could talk to a little more openly was going to leave. It's not like he could sit down with the other leaders to chat calmly since it would just end up being a 'we must kill the Horde and you won't change my mind' type of conversation. The truth was that Genn was absolutely right, Anduin didn't trust that any other leader would be more diplomatic than the king of Gilneas given the circumstances.

Anduin was now in the Lion's Rest square. There he could have a good view of the harbor. Anduin surprised himself by realizing that whenever he felt sad he always came here, the place where his father rested. Maybe he was trying to imagine what his father would say to make him feel better.  
Right behind the monument was Anduin's favorite place, no one usually was there so it was a quiet place. Now he watched as Jaina's ship departed in less than thirty minutes after deciding to go to Kul Tiras, Anduin felt a little calm knowing that her escort was very powerful, although he kept thinking about how they would welcome her.

Afterwards he watched Genn go after an hour gathering an exclusive group to accompany him, among them, he had decided to take his own daughter and that bothered Anduin, he was left more alone.

Now all he could do was stay in the city to wait for missives and reports and probably prepare for the worst possible news. Time was going to be slower than usual.

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As he thought, it has been one of the most boring weeks of his life. All Anduin received was a cluster of alarming news. Anduin had thoroughly read all the letters sent to him from Kul Tiras. The first new was that Katherine, Jaina's mother, totally rejected her daughter, called her a traitor and exiled her to a lost place. She also sent Jaina’s escort to a prison known as Tol Dagor, which was horrible. Fortunately, the escort was helped to escape and just arrived at Boralus’ harbor at the same time as Genn. It was obvious that they didn't want outsiders in Kul Tiras, although Genn ended up finding a supporter: the harbormaster, Cyrus Crestfall. That Kultiran was willing to cooperate with the Alliance to win the favor of the Proudmoore house and help in future wars since it was that house the one commanding the army and the fleet. With that information, it was suggested to win the sympathy of all three houses in Kul Tiras and it was going to be a very difficult task.Lately the Kultiran government regularly wobbled, the houses didn’t trust each other and their unity was hanging by a thread, but if it was the Alliance who would help them overcome that situation...

Genn stayed in Boralus to supervise, along with the supporters from the harbor, an entire operation between the three zones and resolve this issue. It was probably a task that would last for weeks and Anduin only felt immense impatience. The first reports were quite shocking.

In Tiragarde, there was evidence of treason and they had a big piracy problem. Drustvar's reports were disturbing; witches, curses and a problem with ancient beings called Drust. About the reports from Stormsong Valley there was something that especially caught Anduin's attention. Although at first they seemed quite calm, except for the problems with the Tidesage, there was something that intrigued him. It was said some people were going crazy and there were strange whispers and powers from the Void affecting humans. Anduin was no stranger to the power of the Void, in his years as an apprentice of the Light he studied some theory about those powers and the mental damage they can do. He never got to use the shadows entirely, he only tried mind control a few times, but he never felt comfortable. However he knew Alleria and the Ren’dorei, with them he had seen firsthand what would happen if it was used well. But it was clear in those descriptions that such power was not being used safely, someone was playing something dangerous.

The days passed monotonously and without much to do, Anduin felt increasingly overwhelmed. Everyone he used to talk to left from the beginning or left later. He only had some casual conversation with Mathias or spend a little time with Mia, who also got bored without her family nearby. He didn't go to see Wrathion either, he didn't want to. Anduin had been very tempted to go so many times that at some point he'd lost count completely, but the young king felt that talking to him was only going to bring him trouble. He shouldn't be soft with traitor even though he missed the dragon and really wanted to talk to him for a bit. Maybe deep down he was acting stubbornly and nothing would really happen if he visits him. There was also the factor that no one liked the dragon and some guards suggested to Anduin he shouldn’t talk to him. In any case, he needed to somehow come up with a plan to do it without anyone saying anything.

That day however was going to take a rather unexpected turn. At noon Anduin was dining with Mia and talking about Kul Tiras when Mathias broke in.

"My king, queen Greymane, I bring some alarming news."

"I don't know what could get worse at this point… And please, if we are alone, call me Anduin."

"Apologies, Anduin. My spies in Zuldazar sent me this small report." he looked at Mia. "I thank your daughter for this." Mia smiled proudly while Mathias handed Anduin a scroll."

Anduin, who at first had a calm expression, was opening his eyes more and more surprised. The Horde seemed to be solving their problems very well with the Zandalari, a lot of soldiers were arriving at Zuldazar so their army was gathering. On top of that, powerful Horde warriors were spotted in Kul Tiras, both spies and warriors were probably testing the ground. If that was true, maybe they would attack. Anduin rubbed his eyes a little.

"We have to insist more." he concluded while passing the scroll to Mia. "We cannot allow a possible attack to Kul Tiras in the middle of our negotiation."

"Maybe we can take advantage." Mathias said. "If the Horde attacks us with genocidal intent, as they usually do, maybe we give Kul Tiras more reasons to join us." Anduin frowned.

"First, I don't want innocent people to die because of our selfishness, what kind of people are we? Please. And second, I also don't want the Horde to give our diplomacy a boost, I don't want to depend on them for this. We will achieve it ourselves, not thanks to an enemy."

"But-"

"I prefer that they join us because they think we can offer the right path, not because they want to take refuge from a temporary enemy and nothing more without feeling what we feel for belonging to the Alliance."

"I agree with Anduin." said Mia. "Join us because you feel the call of the Alliance, not because of your hatred of the Horde. In addition, pretending that the death of some Kultirans benefits us and we should take advantage of it without caring is somewhat cruel, Mathias. That's something Sylvanas would do, but not us."

"Exactly, we are not like the Horde, protecting them is better evidence than letting them die."

"Alright, alright." Mathias said. "What do you command then, Anduin?" The young king meditated a little.

"Well, increasing the military presence is not a bad idea, we have obtained permissions throughout the week and I think we can start sending some ships of the Seventh Legion with Halford in command there. And we should also send a large part of SI:7, even you should go, Mathias."

"If that's the best I start to get going."

"I want to go too." Mathias blinked.

"What? Why?"

"I want to communicate these things personally to Genn. In addition… There is something I would like to discuss with him and I prefer to do it face to face and not through a paper. Besides, I am one of the biggest representatives of the Alliance, I think it's time that I meet our possible allies in the future."

"You don't have much work around here?"

"I won’t stay there, I plan to return to Stormwind the same day." Mathias seemed to hesitate a few seconds.

"Okay, we'll leave on the next ship, try to hurry up."

Mathias left the room and Anduin prepared to leave. Before that, he looked at Mia.

"Do you want me to say something to your family?" Mia smiled.

"Tell them that I miss them so much and work hard."

Anduin smiled sympathetically, even if it was for a day, he felt bad about leaving Mia alone.

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That day the sea was somewhat choppy. Anduin had to pray multiple times to the Light, hoping no one would feel dizzy and that the trip would end soon. When someone announced that they were approaching land, the young king was the first to go out to look. He was excited to see Kul Tiras and his inner child came out for several seconds. It was as if he discovered a completely new land and was the first being to step on it. He wanted to talk to Genn at last and clarify how boring he had been without his training sessions and ask when he would return. Genn would probably be mad at him for leaving the castle so suddenly, however, Anduin was sure the worgen would be more angry with what Anduin was going to tell him. That report he read about Zuldazar brought valuable information, but what most surprised him was to read that the other black dragon was sighted fighting against rebels in Zuldazar.  
  


When Anduin disembarked, he wanted to walk through the huge harbor in front of him. That day everything was full of life, all the shops were open and the atmosphere felt different than it usually was in Stormwind, he wanted to explore. Anduin also saw a race he had not seen until now, the Tortollan were there. Those turtle-men might have been the weirdest thing Anduin had ever seen in his life, but after meeting the Pandaren and their stories, he just wanted to sit down with one of them and know their culture. Obviously he could not do any of that and had to go straight to the office of the harbormaster Cyrus along with Mathias.

The moment Anduin crossed the door, Genn's eyes almost popped out of their sockets

"BUT-" Anduin raised his hands to calm him.

"I know what you're going to say, but wait a moment, I understand that it has been very long days."

"This cannot be. I don't want to hear it."

"There is something we have to talk about."

"And now l have to hear it!"

"Just a moment, okay?"

Neither of them remembered that they were not alone, Cyrus was looking at them with an expression of total confusion. Genn took a long breath and motioned for Anduin to come closer. Mathias remained leaning on the door without approaching.

"Well." Genn cleared his throat. "Cyrus, this is Stormwind's king, Anduin Wrynn. Anduin, this is Cyrus Crestfall, Boralus' harbormaster and the main person who has helped us since the beginning."

"The king?" Cyrus said surprised. "Oh, your majesty, glad to meet you at last, it is an honor to have you here." Cryus held out his hand and Anduin grasped it in his own, shaking it firmly.

"It's nice to meet you, and you can call me Anduin, don't need to be formal."

"Are you sure…?"

"No problem."

“Well, welcome to Boralus harbor, Anduin. I hope your enjoy your time here."

"That remains to be seen…" Genn said. "What are you doing here? Escaping?" Anduin looked at him.

"Your daughter reports are too alarming, I assume you know them well."

"You mean the Horde movements in Zuldazar?"

"Yes. I'll be sending troops from now on, just in case."

"I appreciate that, but have you only come for this?"

"No, there is something that…" Anduin did not know how to continue.

"Yes...?"

"It seems true that the Horde has a black dragon helping, are you aware that it’s very dangerous?"

"A black dragon?" Cyrus asked. "Weren't they all dead?"

"No, in fact there are two." Genn replied. "It won't be the first time we face one.”

"But it’s not just any kind." Anduin said worried. "As far as I know, this one is very old, maybe from the time when Deathwing himself was young, and it’s probably powerful. How do we face such power? Or do you want to face him without a plan?"

"And what do you want to do? If we don't have something to match him right now, we'll improvise, or do you have something in mind now?"

"We also have a dragon."

Genn’s eyebrow twitched upon hearing Anduin’s suggestion, and he couldn’t conceal his restlessness. After a second of being in a trance, he grabbed Anduin by the shoulders and took him back to the ship followed by Mathias, who seemed equally alarmed. Once there, they locked themselves in the captain's cabin and the atmosphere seemed to tense.

"Are you out of your mind?" Genn sounded totally confused and accusing.

"No, I'm not."

"In that case, do you know what you just suggested?"

"Even for me it's a risky bet." said Mathias.

"I know it sounds crazy." Anduin admitted. "But using Wrathion to work against the other dragon may be a good idea, with his help we shouldn't worry about the other."

"And what makes you think he will help us?" Genn wanted to know.

"We make a deal with him, giving him what he came looking for and also giving him some freedom in exchange for fighting alongside the Alliance when the appropriate time came."

"I can think of a thousand reasons for that pact to go wrong. He could run away, betray us, show that he is actually working with the other…"

"I know, but… I don't think he likes the other dragon precisely."

"How can you be sure?"

"Intuition…" the truth was he knew Wrathion had despised the other by calling him 'moron.'

"Do you trust the dragon now?" Mathias asked.

"I don't trust him, it's just that… I think… he's different now."

"He looked the same as the last time I saw him three years ago." said Genn.

"I don't mean appearance. You didn't know him three years ago and I assure you he has changed. I’m not asking you to trust him, but rather you trust my decision."

"Anduin." Genn tried to sound sympathetic. "I trust you, but understand that we only see risk."

"If there will be a battle between the Horde and the Alliance, I want Wrathion to fight against the other black dragon, nothing else. If he dies on the battlefield, then he dies, let them kill each other.

"And what if he betrays us?"

"Then." Anduin became more serious. "In that case I will be the one who looks for him and kills him."

Mathias and Genn looked at each other with concern, it was crazy what Anduin was suggesting. Genn walked in a little circle for a few seconds as if he was having the biggest inner debate of his life.

"You really got us in between the Devil and the deep blue sea." said Mathias.

"Okay." concluded Genn. "Okay. I don't trust the dragon, but I'm going to trust you, Anduin, because somehow you've always had the best hunches I've ever seen in any being." Anduin smiled. "But I warn you one thing, all this will be your responsibility and only yours. If it goes wrong, you'll have to take all the blame. I won't help you carry the burden this time." Anduin straightened up.

"Of course, thanks Genn, I’ll take responsibility for what’s to come." both looked at Mathias as if waiting for a verdict.

"I follow orders, tell me what you want me to do." Anduin sighed.

"For now stay in Kul Tiras coordinating intrusions with the SI:7, but obviously I don't want to leave Wrathion unguarded, I need someone breathing down his neck twenty-four hours a day."

"I can think of the best ‘stalker’ in the world for this. Dereck Hopson is most efficient when I need to watch someone all day." Anduin smiled a little at that. "But also, apart, I'll leave two more agents, obviously."

"Of course."

"You'll tell me how your great idea goes, Anduin." said Genn.

With that, Genn almost ended the conversation. Once outside he gave the order to return immediately to Stormwind. Anduin didn't want to leave so soon, but his obligations were calling him now. Dereck boarded almost at the end somewhat surprise, he had not been expected to be selected to carry out such a mission. Anduin imagined Tess would be angry with him for forcing her platonic love to separate from her temporarily and imagined that she would look for Anduin to strangle him the next time they saw each other. Although it didn't look well, Anduin smiled a little at that thought.  
During the trip, Dereck and Anduin sat together on the bow of the ship and their heads were flooded with the smell of salt while a few drops of water collided on their faces. He liked talking to Dereck and the spy was explaining how the investigations had been all over Zandalar. It was as if Dereck was telling him a story for kids and the descriptions of the places were very interesting. One day, Anduin would like to see those places with his own eyes. But suddenly the conversation changed, Dereck wanted to know why Anduin was going to set free the dragon now.

The truth is that even Anduin himself didn’t understand how he’d come up with that idea. He was sure that Wrathion had changed and this time it’d be the biggest wager he’d place in his life. Would he be the same traitor as always or would he be a good person now? He’d already pondered that question several times. Since he saw him again and Wrathion begged for his help, Anduin felt intrigued about his plans and maybe now, if he showed that he had a vote of confidence, he’d be able to find out what he was up to. No matter how dangerous it was, it was worth it to take the risk. Although he said he’d kill him if he escaped, even though he put on a serious facade, he had actually hesitated a lot. When the time came, he didn’t know if he would be able to. The nostalgia for their friendship carried a great weight in that decision. He hated to admit it, but he missed having a friend with no ties to the Alliance, someone who had a neutral point of view. Anduin hated that he wanted it to be Wrathion after what he did, but nostalgia won fully against all his common sense.

Now Anduin was torn between the conclusions of his idea: Was it one of the biggest bets he’d place in his life or was he just indulging himself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next chapter, I try to bring it soon. Take care <3


	5. A long day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I didn't take too much time, I'm glad :) But... will that mean I did a bad translation? We will see.  
I still insist English isn't my main language so sorry for grammar and primitive vocabulary

The sun had risen again when the ship reached Stormwind. Anduin couldn't sleep almost anything again and began to suspect that these small attacks of insomnia were getting worse. He kept thinking about his plan or what he was going to say to Wrathion once they were face to face and nothing seemed to sound good. Once they disembarked, Anduin told Dereck to go straight to the dungeons, he didn't want to waste time.

"Do you really think this deal will work out?" Dereck asked, still doubting.

"I think it will benefit us."

"Why do you want to release him too? Why not keep him locked up?"

"I don't know what kind of books he's looking for and he said they're distributed, he also told me that they're written in some kind of strange language and I don't want to be the delivery boy."

"So, basically you want him to figure it out on his own."

"Exactly." they both laughed. "I also want him to think that I have forgiven him by leaving him free."

"Why?"

"I'll try to get advantage on that and get information."

"Are you going to fool a black dragon? Wow! If it works out I'll ask you for some classes."

Anduin smiled, being able to fool a being who by reputation was part of the most manipulative race in history could be quite an achievement. When they reached the doors, Anduin asked Dereck to wait outside, it was better for them to speak alone. The dungeons were as cold as ever, it seemed that everyone was asleep and as soon as he saw the prison officer he asked for the master key. Anduin tried to be stealthy and not attract attention until he reached the cell, Wrathion was wide awake and seemed glad.

"I thought you wouldn't come."

"You say it like I owe you something."

"Wow, you're grumpy this morning." Anduin avoided answering that. "I see you haven't brought me any books."

"Well, no. But I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"In the hypothetical case that I let out of here and give you freedom to find what you want, what will you do next? Where would your path go?" Wrathion looked surprised.

"Is this an interrogation?"

"Just answer."

"It depends. It depends on what I end up finding, Anduin. I can't tell you for sure right now."

"Try to give details." Wrathion settled more leaning on the wall.

"Alright, two paths I would have. One I'd know where to go, the other I'd come to a dead end."

"A dead end why?"

"Because I wouldn't know the truth and I wouldn't know exactly where to go."

"You told me that the books came from south Kalimdor, would you go there if you clarify your ideas?"

"Probably. Hey Anduin, go straight to the point at once." Anduin hesitated a little, it wasn't time yet.

"The other black dragon, whose name I don't remember, is he powerful?"

"Ebyssian. And his power, like any dragon, depends on the wrath you're feeling."

"Imagine on a battlefield."

"Well, he has enough years and that doesn't really mean weakness, with his experience and magic could destroy an army alone if he considers it."

"Could you face him?"

"I already did it..." Wrathion sighed. "Anduin, don't take it to heart but... You're terribly bad at hiding your intentions." the young king was not surprised, it was true that he was doing it wrong.

"I want to propose a deal."

Anduin opened the cell's door and entered the dark place, sat a few inches from Wrathion and the dragon seemed to pay special attention.

"Ebyssian is in Zandalar and will probably participate in future battles, you understand that I am worried about it, right?" said Anduin.

"I imagine you are."

"If I let you out and give you permission to look for the books, would you return the favor?"

"I guess you want me to deal with Ebyssian while your Alliance and the Horde kills each other."

"You deduced well."

"When will this battle be?"

"I'm not sure, it can be very soon or in weeks."

"Well, I don't know, uh, what if I find what I'm looking for before?"

"By our deal, you will be forced to fight anyway."

"And will you take away the pleasure of receiving your visits?" Anduin blinked.

"I... Emm, you can say no, of course. If that's the case, you will stay her-"

"I accept, you don't need to tell me more." Anduin was surprised.

"Really?"

"Actually I had accepted as soon as you told me you were offering me a deal. I didn't care about the conditions, I was just bothering you a little. Don't be angry at me for that."

"Were you really willing to do whatever as long as I freed you?"

"Yes, and it's too late to take advantage, you already made my contract." Anduin snorted.

"I don't want anything more than that. Obviously I won't leave you alone, you will be watched."

"I hope it's you who does it." Wrathion said smiling.

"I don't have much time for you."

"But you're really giving me a vote of confidence, thanks." Anduin seemed to hesitate.

"First of all, I want you to answer something."

"What, exactly?" Anduin became serious.

"Tell me one thing, and don't you dare lie to my face... Did you really consider me your friend when we met in Pandaria?" Wrathion tilted his head a little and took a few seconds of pure silence.

"Of course I thought of you as my friend, don't even doubt that." Anduin grabbed Wrathion's wrists and, with the same key, released him. "Thank y-"

"Say thanks to whatever friendship we used to have." Anduin cutted, but when he got up to leave, Wrathion stopped him.

"Thank you."

Anduin said nothing and indicated him to follow. The prison officer looked at him in shock at what the young king was doing when he left but decided to ignore it. When they came out in the sunlight, Wrathion seemed annoyed to see so much brightness after being locked up in darkness and almost disoriented. Anduin called Dereck and he approached them a little nervously.

"This is Dereck, your personal warden." Anduin explained to Wrathion.

"Oh, nice to meet you." said Wrathion politely. "If I can ask you something, do me a favor, don't bother me much."

"Don't threaten him."

"It's a genuine suggestion."

"Wrathion, stop it. I'll give you a little vote of confidence, if you really are behind something good, prove it, otherwise I'll kill you." Wrathion looked at him a little bewildered.

"Well, well, can you?"

"Don't test me."

"Where is the nearest library?" Wrathion said it to try to change the subject. Anduin looked at Dereck.

"Guide him, and if he does something weird, you know what to do."

"This way." said Dereck.

Dereck went with Wrathion to the Mage Quarter and Anduin noticed his concern rise. He thought this was a mistake and everything would go wrong, but on the other hand he wanted to trust him and think that Wrathion had no bad intentions. After a sigh, Anduin decided it was time to return to the castle and take care of all the work. Everything had accumulated after leaving for one day.

His table was a chaos of reports. Apparently many of the reports were from Drustvar where they finally made good friends with the representative house: the Waycrest house. Much of the problems with witches and curses disappeared and probably they will have the support of the Waycrest soon. After a while, that was the best news he had received. In the Stormsong Valley it was discovered that the Lord of the house was a traitor and was the one who played with the powers of the Void without any control. Fortunately, if they overthrew him, maybe someone who was willing to cooperate with the Alliance would be put in charge. In Tiragarde on the other hand, nothing was going well. The pirates in the area destroyed Daelin's gate and there were hundreds of displaced people. Worst of all? That the pirates were acting under the orders of some traitor. To finish off the concern, they continued sighting Horde members all over Kul Tiras, some said they saw Forsaken raising new members to increase their ranks. As soon as Anduin started reading those things, he felt very tired, just when things started to go well in a place, another problem came out somewhere else, as if life was testing his patience. He took a sigh and prepared to write all the troop movement reports he had to do.

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One evening, unbeknownst to Anduin, Tess arrived at Stormwind by order of Mathias to search for more SI:7 agents in order to increase the surveillance of the Horde’s movements. Just like Anduin had imagined, as soon as Tess saw him, he began to run away from her around the castle to avoid being strangled. Obviously it bothered her that he took Dereck two days ago. Tess quickly gave up chasing the king and decided that she would spend the afternoon with her mother in an attempt to leave Anduin alone, yet he knew she would soon forgive him, their fights were always like that. At Mia's request, that night Tess would stay in the castle, her mother didn't want her daughter to embark on a rainy night. During dinner they all sat together and invited Dereck, who had left another spy to keep an eye on the dragon.

Tess asked about that plan, if Wrathion really did something weird, but to her surprise it was the opposite. Wrathion had spent the days reading, sometimes inside one of the libraries and other times outdoors. Anduin wasn't very surprised about this, if the dragon was going to do something weird it was still early, although it seemed odd that Dereck described the dragon as the calmest target he had to watch in his life as a spy.

When the whole world went to sleep, Anduin stayed awake reading. It wasn't something he could do often even if he liked it very much, he almost never had time. Now with his insomnia attacks he could spend some time to catching up on books. Lately he had read Mallory Zeimot, a human who on his deathbed dedicated himself to collecting all his thoughts about life. Anduin wasn't one to take that kind of books to the letter but he liked to imagine how he would feel in those situations. That night he read a certain paragraph that got stuck in his head because it reminded him of Tess Without wanting to sleep or continue reading, he preferred to bother her with it. Anduin saw that there was light coming out under the door where Tess was staying that night and felt relieved by it. After knocking softly on the door a few times, he opened it a bit to poke his head through. Tess was lying in bed reading a report and frowned when she saw him.

"No one sleeps in this castle?" Tess asked.

"Not usually. Are you still mad at me?" she snorted.

"Well, just a little." Anduin could notice the irony in her voice and took it as an invitation to pass. He went to the edge of the bed and sat down. "Now seriously, it doesn't surprise me that my mother is a little worried about you."

"Me? Why?"

"You have some impressive eye bags, you should take a restful night completely."

"Well, if I can I will."

"How about doing it today?"

"I want to ask you something, or rather, that you think something."

"Oh boy..."

"It turns out that I was reading something interesting and this question came up: Is love a feeling or is it a mere fancy? What do you think? Or better yet, what will it be for Dereck?" Tess started to get nervous.

"Don't imply anything, Anduin."

"But have you even talked about this?"

"We haven't."

"Why do you never tell each other what you really think? You just leave it in simple flirting." Tess sighed almost laughing.

"It's so obvious that you haven't fallen in love in your life. It's not that simple." Anduin pointed her out accusingly.

"Aha! So you admit it openly? You love him?" Tess got very nervous.

"I won't deny I think highly of him, I esteem him." Anduin raised an eyebrow. "I like him."

"'Esteem him?' 'Like him?' Lie again like that and I won't talk to you again."

"Alright. My feelings are stronger than what I said, but this is none of your business." Anduin stayed a few seconds without saying anything.

"A feeling or a fancy?" Tess got up and pushed him away.

"You're a pain in the ass, get to bed! This is not like rumors about you, it's something different."

Anduin endured the laughter at her reaction of trying to throw him out. But before leaving the room, he turned once more and tried to put the most feminine voice he could in a stupid attempt to imitate her.

"I won't deny I think highly of him, I esteem him." at that imitation, Tess smiled a little. "I like him."

Anduin went laughing to his room. He wanted her to fully confirm her feelings and would have liked to help Tess with it. But she didn't seem to take any step and Anduin didn't want to force her, after all, he shouldn't get too much into it personally. It was enough for him to joke around and make her nervous, just like she does with him sometimes.

The gruelling day started having an impact on his body and he couldn't stay awake anymore. He was beginning to wonder if so much paperwork throughout the day was really necessary while getting into bed.

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Once again, everything was more complicated than it should. This time the Horde went too far. One of the villages from Stormsong Valley was brutally attacked and many of the civilians now lay dead. Alliance troops who went to defend the place resisted for a while, but now they had to withdraw. A champion of the Alliance was able to kill a commander who carried Sylvanas' orders with him. In them it could be understood she believed that the Kultirans in that area were administering supplies, especially food, to the Alliance and assumed that they were allies already, which wasn't true.

Anduin was angry. Once again Sylvanas drew hasty conclusions and had condemned the lives of innocents without even blinking. How was he going to explain this to his possible allies? What if they now reproached the Alliance for bringing war? It was too early, Kul Tiras would take the attack as something personal rather than an attack to the alliance. Maybe Sylvanas’ suppositions weren’t right, but it was going to have consequences for the Alliance anyway. That same morning much of Stormwind was left empty, many soldiers had to mobilize to make Kul Tiras understand that they were going to defend them because it was the right thing to do, if all went well, they would notice their intentions.   
If there was something Anduin hated was that Mathias was right in the end. They were taking full advantage of their diplomatic mishap, but he couldn't help having his back against the wall with that decision, he didn't want to but he had to.  
When the afternoon came, Anduin decided to clear his mind a little by taking a walk around Stormwind Embassy gardens. It was a quiet place, you could breathe calmly the fresh air and listen to the birds singing. But then he heard footsteps approaching. When Anduin turned around he saw Tyrande and Turalyon with a serious expression.

"What happened now?" Anduin asked tired.

"Right now, nothing." Tyrande replied. "Can we talk for a moment?"

"Of course."

The three adults moved to a slightly more remote area.

"Well," Turalyon began. "I have just received very fresh news. One of my lightforged draenei has informed me that the Lord Stormsong has been liquidated in an assault without casualties and all the corruption has vanished with him." Anduin opened his eyes in surprise.

"Seriously? That is great."

"But there is something we did not know."

"Something bad?"

"It turns out he has a son." Anduin blinked confused.

"And what is wrong with that."

"Well, his house has the same rules as a monarchy. Now is his son the leader and has already proclaimed himself as a king."

"What is the problem? Is he a spoiled boy or something?"

"Spoiled boy I do not know, but he does not want to cooperate with us, he strongly opposed."

"What? One moment, stop. In the reports they sent me they said that one Tidesage was in our favor and he helped us, what happened to that?"

"It does not matter if that kid objects."

"Did he say any reason why he does not want to cooperate?"

"I do not know, I have not been told much more than: if he had the chance, he would kick us out of Kul Tiras."

"How strange... Well, his father was a traitor, so he could be following a plan... maybe."

"I doubt it. Father and son have apparently not seen each other for months, and cut ties since the lady of the house died, and there is also no trace of Void energies inside the child."

"Are you sure about that?"

"One of Alleria's elves checked." Anduin scratched his chin.

"Well, if I go to Kul Tiras I could try to convince him."

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about." said Tyrande. "About going to Kul Tiras to war."

"War? What?" Anduin sounded completely confused.

"You read about the Horde attack, right?"

"Yes, I did."

"Well, it is time to fight back and kill two birds with one stone. Those dogs began to settle in that town after the massacre they did. I know you have not stopped sending troops to increase the military presence, it is time to use them. On the other hand, with this revenge, we can also win the trust of the Kultirans, of course. The sooner the better."

"Wait one moment. I have sent troops, yes, but we have no assault device there. Attacking now is not a good idea, they have more resources right now. They are in a better position."

"Then you should hurry up and start sending parts to mount them there, Anduin."

"But-"

"There is no excuse. You will have to hurry up."

Anduin felt his blood boil. He didn't want to go to battle so soon when the trauma of the last one persisted in his mind. The thirst for revenge had completely clouded Tyrande's judgment. They didn't have the backing of a nation and were still on talks, contrary to the Horde, who were already on very good terms with the Zandalari, and it made him angry that Tyrande didn't seem to realize.

"Stormwind's army is more than qualified for such an operation." Turalyon said. "Or maybe not?" Anduin hesitated a little.

"They can do it."

"In that case it is just giving a couple of orders." Tyrande insisted. "Or would you leave us to our own fate?"

"What? Of course not, it is just..." Anduin gave up, what could he really say? "It will take me awhile to get everything done, just that."

"We already started with it." said Turalyon. "But we still have to organize. I will meet with the other leaders in Kul Tiras. Hope to see you soon."

"See you very soon." concluded Tyrande.

Both adults quickly retreated and Anduin wanted to shout as loudly as he could. He was tired of the same story since the Horde started the war. No one had listened to him, no one asked for his opinion or what he would most like, they just expected him to say 'yes' to the troop movements. Of course, being a king, he was in charge of one of Azeroth's biggest military powers, but since the Burning Legion was defeated, he had only used it to do things he hated.  
Although he already realized a while ago, every time he thought about a certain thing he couldn't help feeling very angry and not even the Light could relax him: they were only using him and he couldn't say anything. What would happen if he refused? The Kaldorei would do well alone under the command of a woman who had millennia of experience. The dwarves would always have the gnomes and vice versa, they had a very close relationship and their technology was enough to survive without problem. Both Turalyon and Alleria could lead their people on their own if they wanted to, both leaders had more than enough experience. He knew that Velen wouldn't follow any dark path and he fully supported him, but lately he had disregarded himself with practically everything. The only nation that would stay with him till the end was going to be Gilneas. Genn treated Anduin as if he was his son and could always count on him, but Genn already made it clear once they would help the Kaldorei in case of emergency because the night elves welcomed Gilneas' refugees in difficult times.   
What was Anduin really for them? They probably only saw him as a child lacking any experience who had power only because he was Varian's son, a cluster of coincidences. Maybe if there was an election, everyone would probably choose someone else to rule Stormwind.

Anduin sighed and began to wander near the lake totally lost in his thoughts. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he felt lonely and totally isolated from the world. Lately he wished that he wasn’t king, that his father had never died. Anduin wished he could lock himself up in his room and not go out to face a situation that had him feeling like a stranger to himself.

In the top of a tree near the lake, Wrathion was reading. He had spent several days lost in the pages of a book he found after a while. The language was harder to read than he could imagine, and even worse, many messages were hidden. But he couldn't give up, if he did, who knows what would happen if no one solves the most machiavellian game that has been seen on the planet. To his surprise, all his attention went to Anduin when he saw him pass near where he was. From there the dragon could see a sad expression on Anduin's face and intrigued him, the young king seemed as exhausted as usual. Trying to be stealthy, he settled a little to see him better, going from branch to branch without Anduin noticing. However, as soon as he stepped on a half-broken branch, he began to fall into the grass.

Anduin thoughts were completely interruptedwhen he heard something break and fall. A few meters ahead of him, Wrathion fell beside a weak-looking branch. Wrathion stood up while muttering, or cursing, something in Draconic language as he looked at that tree as if it had betrayed him as vilely as possible.

"What are you doing?" Anduin asked as Wrathion shook the leaves and branches above him.

"Nothing. And you?"

"Nothing."

There was an awkward silence between them and none knew how to proceed. They didn't see each other these last days at all, the young king had been almost locked up with his millions of papers. Anduin walked, passing by Wrathion's side, who was still taking off the last leaves, thinking it was time to return to the castle. When he took three steps he turned to Wrathion.

"Are you coming or not?"

Wrathion didn't expect Anduin to invite him to walk with him and he took the invitation with pleasure. They didn't say a word and they couldn't say it was a comforting silence. There was a feeling of pure tension impossible to ignore. Wrathion meanwhile tried to break the ice.

"How is the war going?" Anduin looked at him raising an eyebrow and Wrathion repented. "Yes, it's true. It's a stupid question, I better say nothing."

"It's not going well." Wrathion could notice an angry tone.

"Well, everything will be fixed. It was you who always said that with kindness and the power of Light and friendship, anything could be solved, right?" Anduin stopped and looked at him angrily. With everything that was going on in his thoughts he was not in the mood for Wrathion to say something like that.

"Screw you." Anduin walked faster to get away from him, he didn't understand why he had invited Wrathion to walk with him. However, Wrathion ran in front of him and made him stop.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a-"

"An asshole? Well, you were."

"Sorry, seriously." Anduin took a long and tired sigh. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. It has only been a very long day." Wrathion put on a more serious and somewhat worried expression.

"I wonder how many times you said that lately."

Anduin tensed. Why? Why had he let Wrathion see through him that way? He must always stand firm and not hesitate, at what moment had he showed weakness exactly? Could he no longer control his mood in front of others? Anduin tried to calm himself by breathing at a slow pace and looked at Wrathion, now he must be the one trying to break the ice.

"Do you remember how to play Jihui?" Wrathion raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I remember it well."

"Now I can't, but, would you like to play some other time?"

"If you want... I have no problem."

Maybe Anduin just needed to get some distraction and focus on something else, even if it was a few minutes of play. His head was so saturated with worries and doubts that he had completely forgotten tranquility. Playing Jihui, one of his favorite games, could give him some peace and only Wrathion could play with him right now, nobody in Stormwind knew the game well. Perhaps he could also show that he was well in front of the dragon so he wouldn't ask questions about the young king's mood. He couldn't allow Wrathion to see through him so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you next time, I hope you still like it :)


	6. The big game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for grammar mistakes, it's hard but i try my best :')

For the first time in days, the morning was calm and without movement. Anduin only spent time giving instructions to bring war contraptions to Kul Tiras for future battles. He wasn’t happy with the situation but he was so cornered that he had no choice. There was someone who would had share this burden with him, Genn would, but he was too far away now. Sometimes the young king thought that he should move himself to Kul Tiras temporarily and do things from there, he could count on Genn's good help and maybe try to make friends with the Kul Tiras’ houses. He wanted, above all, to find that child from the Storm's wake house and convince him to join the Alliance. It might not be easy, but Anduin was confident that he could get along well with a child. When the young king left his room to clear his mind, he found Wrathion sitting on the edge of a window playing with what appeared to be a box. When their eyes met, the dragon showed him the drawing in the middle of the box, the classic Jihui symbol surrounded by a circle. Anduin smiled inside, a game wasn't a bad idea now. Both entered what used to be a recreation room that unfortunately nowadays was barely used because of the lack of staff and looked like a ghost room. They were totally alone and sat down to play.   
Wrathion was still very skilled with the game and it felt like he knew it much better than before while Anduin was being clumsy. The young king forgot many rules and was being corrected by Wrathion almost all the time. The objective was the same at least, both players had to win.

"When you told me that you wanted to play I assumed you still knew the rules." Wrathion mocked a little.

"I proposed it because I wanted some entertainment."

"What am I now? Your excuse to avoid your responsibilities?"

"I invite you to play and this is how you thank me?"

Wrathion tried to smile without much success, he was as lost in his thoughts as Anduin was lately. There was a devastating silence between them, the only thing that was heard was the occasional clash of pieces and the dice falling on the table. Although the game was the same, Anduin noticed that things had changed too much between them. Years ago, while playing, they never stopped talking, either commenting plays in game or things that happened in Pandaria related to Lei Shen while now they could barely look at each other. He was starting to miss the total unconcern of those days or the way Wrathion used to tell him anything he had seen on his trips. Everything had changed because of...

"It's your turn."

Anduin had gone blank and didn't realize that Wrathion was waiting for him to move piece. Anduin took a long breath and placed one of the pieces on the board and finally asked a question that had haunted him for a long time.

"Why?" Anduin asked in a low voice. The dragon looked at him confused and Anduin stared at him very seriously. "Why did you released Garrosh?" he caught Wrathion totally off guard, the dragon leaned back a little, slowly.

"It doesn't make sense to talk about it at this point."

"Why do you want to avoid talking about this? And you just told me that I evade my responsibilities? What do you think you do?"

"It’s not the same."

"Of course it is. I spent months thinking about why you did it. I couldn't understand it and every time I remembered what you did, I got angry and felt stupid or used." Wrathion sighed nervously.

"But that doesn't matter anymore."

"It matters to me, and a lot."

"Anduin, no..." he sounded more like pleading than anything else. "It's not worth mentioning this. What happened, happened, and there is no turning back, no matter how much I regret it."

"Imagine this situation in reverse. If I was the one who had betrayed you like that, wouldn't you like to know why?" Wrathion didn't answer. "You were my only friend, at least I want an explanation."

"Because the circumstances of my birth were very different from any other." Anduin blinked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was born knowing things I wish I hadn't known, okay?" Wrathion looked totally nervous.

"What was the problem of your birth that pushed you to do such a thing, exactly?" The dragon began to hesitate and moved looking from one side to the other as if looking for an exit, avoiding looking at Anduin.

"It wasn't natural. They took away the corruption with a titanic device that transferred their own information, things that the Titans saw. Can you imagine what I saw in my first dreams?"

"Well, no."

"A sea of green flames. Our planet was a light in the middle of the Great Dark Beyond and the Burning Legion was like a moth attracted without control. I saw the destruction they did on other planets, what they could do to ours, do you think I was cool about it?" Anduin didn't answer, he couldn't imagine how it should have been. "Look, I’ll admit something. I was afraid, I was very scared. Releasing Garrosh was a stupid and very desperate decision by me, but at that time I didn't trust that we could save ourselves, the world was divided."

"You were at the trial, you saw everything that happened, did you believe Garrosh would save us?"

"The only thing that was clear to me in that trial was that a peace between the two factions wouldn't be possible. For one thing or another, you would end up fighting again and forgetting the important."

"We team up against the Burning Legion."

"And now you hold hands and walk through a field picking flowers, don’t you?" Anduin just clicked his tongue. "Look, leave it. Several years have passed, it doesn't matter anymore." Wrathion sounded defeated.

"Why did you send Garrosh to an alternative Draenor? What was the point?"

"Point? The army of the Iron Horde was famous for being very powerful, supposedly a good option to counteract the Burning Legion, but both Garrosh and the Iron Horde proved to be between resentful and having a closed mind, everything went wrong. End of the story." Anduin knew the dragon was hiding something.

"You went to that Draenor, right?" Wrathion, who had refused to look him in the eye, now stared at the king and seemed to hold his breath.

"How do you know that?"

"I read the Admiral Taylor's garrison log. He mentioned you and wrote that you stayed there as a guest for a while, but one day, when he returned, you disappeared along with all your followers and some of his people, he never saw you again." Wrathion looked pale suddenly. "Where did you go? Why did you take his men too? And besides, you were in Azeroth when the Burning Legion attacked, right?"

"I see no one ever knew..." Wrathion never finished the sentence and moved in such a way that you could tell he was totally uncomfortable. "Don't ask me about it."

"What's the problem now?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Anduin saw that Wrathion's left hand began to shake.

"I tried to find you, you know? But there was no trace of you anywhere, it was literally as if you had never existed. I came to think you were..."

"Dead? I don't think you care much, really." for some reason Wrathion started to sound angry.

"I just want to know-"

"NO."

At that moment, Wrathion spoke too loudly, the walls echoed his voice. Anduin didn't understand why Wrathion looked so angry now, Anduin was supposed to be the one who should be angry, but he didn't have the audacity to keep asking questions. Maybe he went a little far? The young king didn't consider he offended the dragon in any way. Wrathion didn't move and Anduin began to think that he might not play with him after this. But then, someone knocked on the door and Tyrande entered the room.

"Oh, am I interrupting?" she asked looking both boys.

"No, no, has something happened?" Anduin said as he stood up.

"Not at all, I just came to communicate a couple of things."

Tyrande moved a little closer to the table where they were while looking at Wrathion with suspicious, he was looking at the wall, still upset.

"I will go to Kul Tiras in a few minutes."

"Okay, do you need something?"

"Rather, I can take several war gadgets now. I know that only one ship has been sent, but with mine, I can take more, to facilitate work." maybe Anduin was imagining it, but he could feel the impatience in Tyrande's voice and didn't like it, it was as if she was only dealing with a rebellious teenager.

"Take what you can." he concluded somewhat tired. "Try to help with diplomacy once there."

"Of course, with the attack of the Horde I can push them a little more to join us. On the other hand, try to work a little harder from here with the shipments." Anduin blinked.

"I do everything I can from here."

"I don't think so if you're playing games." both leaders heard Wrathion laugh behind him.

"Please..." Wrathion said once he stopped laughing. "He’s only relaxing for a while after spending all morning doing those stupid papers, you haven't even thanked him. No wonder that Kul Tiras hasn't joined you yet." Anduin was really surprised.

"Now listen here, dragon." Tyrande began. "You're a bit disconnected from all this, mind your own business."

"Didn't you consider that the reason why you think diplomacy is slow is because you all are so fucking impatient?" Wrathion got up from the chair and approached Tyrande.

"Who do you think you are? You are here for the king's goodness, you should not say a word."

"A king you don't care much for what I see." Tyrande blinked.

"A traitor doesn't know anything."

"I know a lot more than you think, especially about you and your little betrayals in the past, Tyrande. I wouldn't be surprised if your own blindness ends up killing you. It would be ironic considering that..." Wrathion proceeded to say something in Darnassian that Anduin didn't understand, but Tyrande looked very surprised.

"That's not true... And I am not going to die in this war against the Horde, they will be dead before doing something to me."

"I wish you had put that same enthusiasm in protecting Teldrassil." Tyrande looked extremely angry and offended by that comment. Anduin shuddered to see her, contrary to Wrathion, who still had the same angry expression. However, Tyrande backed to the door.

" Such people you choose to make pacts with, Anduin.. ." Tyrande opened the door to leave but stopped at the last second. "Ah, I forgot to tell you that you have a visitor waiting."

Before Anduin could say anything, Tyrande had slammed the door shut. Anduin looked at Wrathion in shock.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Anduin.

"What?" Wrathion asked with disdain.

"Why did you say that?"

"Maybe because it's the truth. Don't you have a visitor? Then, go."

Wrathion opened the door to leave too and Anduin felt angry and ignored. Without thinking much, he went after Wrathion, he needed to speak with him. The dragon however was moving away fast as if he was running away from him. When they were almost outside the castle, Wrathion stopped. Anduin thought that perhaps he had stopped to talk, or he would say to Anduin to not follow him anymore. But when the young king reached him he saw that the dragon was looking at a woman who had arrived, Anduin recognized her immediately.

"Calia?" Said Anduin totally surprised, she smiled at him.

"Hello again, King Anduin." Anduin went to her to shake her hand still almost speechless.

"What? How? I didn't expect to see you, really, it's a pleasant surprise."

"There is something I would like to talk to you about." Calia averted her gaze to Wrathion. "Did we meet before?"

"I don't think so..." Wrathion replied slowly. "I was leaving." Anduin held him for a moment.

"I want to talk to you later." Wrathion narrowed his eyes a little and left the place.

"He's a black dragon, isn't he?" Calia asked innocently.

"Yes, how did you realize so fast?"

"I think I've seen him somewhere, or maybe he reminds me of someone."

Anduin tilted his head a little, he couldn’t think of a reason why Wrathion and Calia knew each other.  
Anduin met Calia many months ago through Alonsus Faol, a Forsaken priest who got along very well with. It was odd for a Forsaken to be on the Light's side once resurrected, but it was the undead who gave him the idea of making a meeting between the Forsaken and their living relatives. It's true that many were rejected and accused of being monsters, but there were many who accepted them as undead and wanted to live happily together. Sylvanas didn't accept such a thing and attacked those who were rejected and the ones who wanted to leave her side, it was one of the worst massacres Anduin witnessed and it was when he realized that he couldn't dialogue with the Warchief. Calia made it clear that she shouldn't break into the meeting even though it was people from Lordaeron who were there. It was when she earned Anduin's respect, Calia knew that she shouldn't expose herself in front of Sylvanas, who was probably going to hate anything related to Arthas. Besides, she was very happy to see her people return with their loved ones. After the attack, she helped Anduin a lot to heal the wounded and they began to fall very well sharing first aid knowledge.

Anduin invited Calia to the recreation room and sit on one of the sofas while searching for something to offer.

"Do you want to drink something specific? I have lots of drinks here." Anduin said in the distance.

"Oh, it's not necessary, really."

"Are you sure? You won't be abusing my hospitality, seriously."

"It’s okay, don’t worry."

Anduin took some glasses for a medium-sized bottle of water and a bag of crispy potatoes, took it to the small table and sat in front of her.

"Well, I'm a little hungry."

"Please, this is your home, make yourself comfortable." although she said she didn't want anything, Calia did end up drinking a glass of water.

"What brings you here?"

"I was in Kul Tiras recently." Anduin almost choked.

"Wow, really?"

"Yes, I talked to Genn too. In fact, I was surprised you weren't there."

"Yes, well, we need someone to handle things from here too."

"They talk about war a lot in that area, I think you should be there. There are many people who think that."

"Someone must stay here." Anduin said it somewhat sad.

"Well, I talked to Genn about this and he agrees to bring you to Kul Tiras." Anduin blinked confused.

"Genn said what? Was it really him who said it?" Calia laughed a little.

"You sound very surprised."

"It was him who insisted that I should stay here, that's why I sound surprised."

"I think it's because of a diplomacy problem. Genn admitted that you were the eloquent for this, he needs you."

"Well, I..." Anduin felt flattered and didn't know what to say.

"He asked me to talk to you and take you with me next time I go to Kul Tiras."

"When will you go?" Anduin couldn't hide his emotions.

"Two weeks? I can't tell for sure. I guess it will be enough time for you to find someone to handle things from here."

"Of course, no problem."

At last, this time he could be in Kul Tiras if it was Genn who wanted him to be there, there would be no objections. Calia was here in search of knowledge. Since the appearance of the Drust in Drustvar, she had wanted to know more because she knew that their leader was alive and feared a threat. Apart from that, she had to coordinate several churches all around the Eastern Kingdoms since Alonsus was absent. Anduin gave her free access to even the most secret books, so she would be well informed and trusted that this matter with the Drust wouldn't end up being something serious.

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Two days passed without much to do. Anduin had been making efforts to send more war gadgets to Kul Tiras and, according to the letters that arrived, everything was proceeding normally. He also received confirmation that Tyrande arrived on the island but read a complaint from Genn confirming that she wasn't doing anything profitable with diplomacy and was only involved in war councils. Anduin was bothered by it. In the end, the elf wouldn’t help with diplomacy and he would probably end up cleaning up the mess by himself. He didn't understand if it was because she was still angry at what Wrathion said days ago or it was about something else.

He didn't know anything about Wrathion since that day. Anduin wanted to talk to him, but although he told him he wanted to talk, the dragon never appear. On the one hand, Anduin thought he should thank him because, in a way, Wrathion stand up for him a little before Tyrande, something no one did for him before. On the other hand, he wanted to know if Wrathion was angry with him. Anduin didn't understand why he cared about it but feared he had somehow screwed up and therefore couldn't know Wrathion's true intentions.

The more the young king wanted to find him, the less he found him. He came to the point where he asked Dereck where the dragon was, but apparently Wrathion had isolated himself on the rooftops of Stormwind and never went down in all that time. He cut off contact with everything while he continued reading books. Anduin was discouraged, maybe Wrathion was angry in the end.

One afternoon, after lunch, Anduin went to relax at the Lion's Rest, the same spot as always, a bench behind the monument. Many times he thought he should mark his name on that particular bench. Always the same place with the same ocean view. The young king began to think that he would soon cross that little piece of sea to settle in Kul Tiras for a while and he was filled with hopes, it would be the first time he did something like this since he was king.

"I always see you here."

Anduin startled a little. That was his place and no one ever came. When he looked where the voice came from, he was surprised to see Wrathion sitting on top of the monument looking at him.

"No one ever told you that it's disrespectful to sit on a monument?"

Wrathion let himself fall, and upon reaching the ground, he leaned against the wall.. Anduin was unable to figure out his expression, the dragon had that empty look he used to have sometimes since he arrived.

"You said you wanted to talk to me." said Wrathion. Anduin laughed sarcastically.

"So kind of you. It was two days ago, but thanks for remembering anyway, huh."

Wrathion approached the bench and leaned against the small wall that separated the ground from a fatal crash. He seemed to be struggling with something important inside and didn't dare to look at Anduin until he reached a verdict.

"When I'm angry... I usually lose sight of everything around me. Umm, sorry if it feet like I was avoiding you. I didn't think it was a good idea to talk, I didn't want to argue."

Anduin wasn't sure if that was the real reason but Wrathion didn't seem to be lying now, he had sounded very honest. Anduin sighed.

"Alright, It doesn't matter. It wasn't like I couldn't sleep at night because of that." Wrathion let out a small smile.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"I don't think you're in position for it, but tell me."

"I would like you to not mention anything from the past." Anduin looked at Wrathion somewhat confused and saw that he was very serious.

"What problem do you have with the past?"

"I just want it to be gone, I don't want to know anything or talk about it. That's why I ask you. You’re the only one who can bring up painful moments." Anduin hesitated a little and narrowed his eyes, he couldn't understand why, but he comprehend that Wrathion must have his reasons. He sighed again.

"Okay. But then I hope you don't mind talking about your present or the future." Wrathion looked at him curiously.

"Are you so interested?"

"I expected you to tell me something."

"By making me believe that we’re friends again and everything is forgiven when it's not?" Anduin tensed and went blank. "Oh, you're the worst liar I've ever met in my life, Anduin."

"I didn't want to fool you..."

"Let me guess. Give me what I want and leave me free so I'd believe that you have forgiven me and you'd get the information subtly. Did you really think I wouldn't realize?"

"No..." Anduin cursed himself, was it so obvious or was it that Wrathion by nature could know anyone intentions by spending five minutes by his side?

"I'm not angry or something, I just prefer that you tell me the truth. You pretend enough in front of everyone, so don't do it with me too." Anduin gave up, he felt tired.

"I wanted to know what you were up to, but it was obvious since the first day you stepped in Stormwind, I don't know if there’s any surprise…”

"None, but you don't have to pretend. Did the idea come from you or did someone tell you to do it?"

"Nobody wanted to do this, it was, and still is, my responsibility."

"I'm glad they at least let you decide this on your own."

"So, are you going to tell me the truth or not? It’s my intention, you have already discovered me."

Wrathion moved and sat next to Anduin as he watched the sea, the gentle breeze with the smell of the sea passed between them. At that moment Anduin felt good, he almost had the same feeling when they sat together looking at the landscape in Pandaria and talked openly about everything they thought. That friendship was a priceless treasure and Anduin began to feel something sad.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you things." Wrathion looked at Anduin. "Is just that I can't."

"Why?"

"It's a very big game for few people, not everyone can play." Anduin looked confused.

"Game? What kind of game is it, exactly?"

"One very dangerous. There is a big chance of death and almost everyone is at stake."

"And you don't think I should know?"

"To start, I don't want to get you into something so dangerous."

"But you just admitted that our lives are at stake."

"But you don't know how. And it should remain that way, there are certain rules." Anduin shook his head.

"I'm quite confused."

"There's something I can tell you." Anduin paid special attention. "Now I have to find out something, that's why I came here. But, when I have solved this, I'll probably be at a certain point where I most likely need help."

"Why?"

"So far, I’ve been doing everything on my own, but what will come next is too big for me alone and I don't think I can proceed the way I used to. I'll need help."

"Are you telling me that you want me to be the one?"

"You're almost the best option." Anduin felt somewhat flattered.

"Why not the Horde?" Wrathion laughed.

"I can't trust any of them. You, on the other hand, are my best option."

"Well, thanks for trusting the Alliance then." Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"I don't trust the Alliance either."

"But..." Anduin looked at him something serious. "You'll fight for us soon in exchange for my help."

"I'm not going to do that for the Alliance, I’ll do it for you, don't get me wrong." Anduin didn't know how to react, he didn't understand why Wrathion would do it only for him after all.

"Well... Thanks, I guess."

"By the way... Can we play Jihui some other time?"

Anduin smiled and felt really calm with Wrathion's company for the first time since he arrived. The young king still had some doubts, but he wanted to spend more time with him. He wasn't sure of the reason, if it was because he really believed that everything Wrathion said was true or because, although he didn't want to admit it, he felt terribly lonely lately and his company was comforting. Whatever it was, now he finally felt calm.

"Count on it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I'm writing this, BFA ended in canon. I'm surprised on how different my fic is, I hope it's enjoyable anyway. But I still have a long way to go. See you!


	7. Temporary farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for grammar mistakes q_q

The days began to pass fast since Anduin felt some happiness. He never realized of that before. Usually, the young king was always in boring or stressful situations and never enjoy small moments. Since he decided to spend more time with Wrathion playing any board game, days just flew by. The only bad thing about those days was deciding who should handle things in Stormwind while the king was away. It was difficult to find the right person, many of the main nobles were discarded since the beginning, most of them were after power. No one from the church was an option either, he didn't want to mix religion with politics, it was one of the first things he learned as a child. Many people had told him that if he had a wife, he wouldn't had a problem on choosing. Anduin had to put the most forced smile in the world along with a nervous laugh so they would shut up with this matter, he had enough things to worry about.  
  


That afternoon, Anduin walked as usual around the lake. He had a list of possible candidates in hand but every time the young king read a name he crossed it out when he remembered things that person had done before. Now that Anduin realizes, everyone wanted to scratch power, if he gave more authority to the wrong person it could be fatal. Anduin sighed, he had to stop looking at that paper for a while or he would end up going mad. He needed some distraction for a while. Maybe with the good weather the young king could relax right there, sitting under a tree near the lake. Another option would be to try to find Wrathion and take revenge in a board game that came out a few months ago, Legiuns, a simulator of the Burning Legion's invasion. At first Anduin didn't like that one of the players had to command the Burning Legion and try to conquer everything with demons, but he can’t help but admit that it’s a very entertaining and strategic game.

When Anduin had almost surrounded the lake, he saw Wrathion in the distance lying on the roots of a tree. As he approached, he realized that the dragon was asleep. His turban, totally messy and worn, covered his eyes and he had  one book in his right hand .  Anduin realized Wrathion was jabbing the tree trunk with the fingers of his left hand , it was odd that he fall asleep like this. Anduin wanted to see the book closer and know what Wrathion was reading, but when he reached it with his hand, Wrathion woke up startled and released his left hand from the tree and grabbed Anduin by the wrist.

"Shit." Wrathion said in an attempt to calm down. "You scared me."

"I didn't know you guard would be that up." Wrathion released Anduin's wrist.

"Don't do that again, please."

" Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed . " Wrathion looked at Anduin raising an eyebrow.

"I wasn't asleep, exactly."

"Of course, I use that excuse too."

Wrathion sat up, leaning his back against the tree and putting on his turban correctly. The book on his leg fell to the side as he moved and Anduin picked it up to flip through it. As he turned the pages, he frowned confused. The young king couldn't relate those letters to any other language he knew or had seen. Apart from the letters, he saw strange symbols and somewhat gloomy drawings on some pages.

"What are you reading?" asked the king. Wrathion took the book from Anduin's hands, calmly.

"I don't think it will interest you."

"I guess it's one of the books you were looking for."

"Yes, in fact, this is the last. And it's quite interesting, the others only had information that, more or less, I already knew."

"Which language is this? I don't relate it to any."

"I'm not surprised. It was the first language spoken and written in Azeroth from the beings who arrived first."

"Really?" Anduin tried to remember his history lessons, he was sure that the first beings born in Azeroth were the trolls, but those letters didn't resemble their language at all. "Are you sure this is from the trolls?" Wrathion laughed heavily.

"Trolls were the first to born in Azeroth. I'm talking about those who came long before, those who stepped on the planet without being from here." Anduin frowned, he didn't know exactly who Wrathion was talking about.

"And who were they? The Titans?"

"What kind of history lessons have they given you? What a shame that these things aren't known considering how important they are, no wonder that..." Wrathion stopped.

"Yes…?"

"This language is called Shat h’Yar." he explained trying to change the subject. "And for a long time  that language was spoken ." Wrat hion took a pause. "The old gods were the first ones to step on Azeroth without being from here."

"Ah! True." Anduin was surprised that he didn't remember it.

"Then the Titans came and tried to eliminate them, although they only ended up imprisoning them."

"So the old gods wrote this?"

"No, no. At that time there were minions who wrote these books, both followers of the old gods and forged of the Titans. These books are full of secrets about the first days of the world and the work the Titans did."

"And what have you found out?" Wrathion smiled mysteriously.

"Secrets."

"You aren't going to tell me anything, are you?" The dragon just shook his head. "How boring you are."

"But I can tell you why it took me time to read them. Look at this."

Anduin sat next to him with a smile, he liked that at least Wrathion explained something. There, beside him, he felt very relaxed while Wrathion seemed to search for a specific page. As soon as the dragon stopped at one that  looked half blank he placed his hand under the  page and muttered a few words in Draconic, the palm of his hand seemed to glow with a very dark purple colour and suddenly, in the blank spaces of the  page , more strange letters and symbols began to appear. Anduin was speechless.

"Wow!"

"You see? Many messages are hidden."

"This reminds me of lemon ink, it's amazing."

"The what?"

"If you squeeze a lemon and then write with the juice, the letters are invisible, but if you lightly burn the paper around the area, the letters appear and you can read it."

"But that is chemical. This has to do with magic. Anyway, this is the reason why it’s taking time, I want to make sure I see everything."

"I hope you have time for a revenge of Legiuns." Wrathion looked sad.

"Anduin... Do you really want to play with me?" Anduin was surprised at that question.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well, is just... I have noticed that people don't like to see you talking or playing with me, and I don’t want to cause you problems for it." Anduin sighed somewhat annoyed.

"Nobody is going to tell me with who I should talk to or play  with , it's my problem, let them  whine whatever they want. They have no right to tell me something."

"My, my, you've become quite the rebel."

"Isn't that, it's the truth. I'm tired of it. And now I have to choose someone to handle things from here, it couldn't be worse."

"Handle things?" Anduin hesitated a little, could he really tell this?

"Well, it's... umm... I'm going to Kul Tiras soon."

"Wow, in the end they'll let you go to war there. It was time they gave you such an opportunity."

"It's not like I'm excited to go to war. The point is that I have to let someone in charge here while I'm gone and it's not easy."

"I guess no one fits for the charge."

"I have many doubts."

"Well, choose someone trustworthy."

Anduin faked a smile, he didn't really trust anyone right now, all the trustworthy ones left.

Suddenly he heard someone shouting his name in the distance. When Anduin looked away, he saw Dereck running towards them almost breathless.

"Anduin! Finally!" Dereck leaned against the tree gasping.

"What happened?" Anduin said as he stood up.

"A small problem in Kul Tiras. We already know who has betrayed the Proudmoore house." Anduin blinked surprised. "I have one of the agents of SI:7 with all the information waiting in the castle."

"Okay, thanks, Dereck." Anduin looked at Wrathion. "I still want that rematch."

"Don't stress too much." said the dragon.

Anduin ran a little to the castle, he had to know this well. After a few minutes, he met the agent. He gave him reports from both Genn and Mathias and Anduin began to read meticulously.   
The treacherous house was the Ashvane and Priscilla Ashvane was the main traitor. That woman had been a close friend of Katherine Proudmoore for years and now she had tried to usurp her position. Priscilla's husband died in Theramore the same day as Daelin and she hated Jaina for the role the mage played in it. That was the reason why Jaina was sentenced to almost a certain death. Anduin felt angry, it was Priscilla who used the Azerite to create new weapons and give them to the pirates and, later, they destroyed Daelin's gate, making hundreds of civilians leave their houses. Apparently, everything was discovered in time and Katherine saw it with her own eyes. Unfortunately, Priscilla had escaped and was missing. Anduin supposed that he should take care of it once he arrives there, but his first thought was that they had to rescue Jaina before it was too late.

Reading the second report made him pale a little. The Horde was setting up a camp in Stormsong Valley and most spies were talking about a large army assembled. Anduin had no idea what Sylvanas planned and that is what worried him most. Was her intention to attack Kul Tiras before they joined the Alliance? Was she demonstrating her power? Looking for Azerite? The more ideas he had, the worse it looked.

The need to find someone in charge in Stormwind suddenly became a priority. Anduin was trying to think fast. Wrathion told him to choose someone trustworthy. Anduin considered that he must chose someone very loyal and with a legendary experience, someone with titles. At that moment, a person suddenly crossed his thoughts. Yes, there was one that had those requirements and didn't have any kind of dark secret or intention. He went fast to the Stormwind's Embassy.

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Before the night fell,  it  started to rain suddenly and Wrathion was bothered by it. He  was about to finish that book and didn't want to be interrupted by the weather. He took cover inside a library and waited there. He realized that the SI:7 agent was watching him closely.  The agent was very good at  his job , Wrathion had to admit it, but it was too obvious for the dragon that someone was watching him.  It wasn’t as if Wrathion had much to hide, he was just reading, all his secrets were in his head. Wrathion had to admit that he would have preferred to play with Anduin instead of being there.   
It was curious for him.  At first, the dragon wasn't supposed to enter into any kind of relationship with anyone, he wasn't going to get distracted or get someone into his plans and he would be isolated.  B ut  Wrathion had let Anduin slip a little to the point where  the dragon felt comfortable with him and he liked to play at times when possible,  as if they were best friends . Although the young king didn't like his presence at first, he was now calm. Wrathion gave up regaining his friendship a long time ago, he thought it was lost forever, but it looked like he could fix things with him. It was amazing how 'she' made Wrathion see again and again that if he wanted, he could.   
Then he froze. On that page, after using his magic to see secrets, the drawing he had been looking for so much  finally  appeared, similar to one he had in his bag. It was just an inaccurate reply. If no one had read this before that meant the real one was still in… 

“Oh, shit…”

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Anduin invited Muradin Bronzebeard to dinner. The young king had been so focused on choosing someone from Stormwind that he almost forgot someone of another race can be valid as well. Muradin was quite known for being a legendary warrior and harboring a great sense of honor. Anduin didn't understand how he didn't think of the dwarf before, Muradin was as honorable as Magni.

Muradin sat happily beside Anduin without knowing why he was invited. He never wanted to go to Kul Tiras and preferred to stay in the continent helping civilians and refugees.

"Lad, this is a good beer." Muradin said as he drank.

"I'm glad, I wasn't sure if you would like it."

"Well, it's great. You won't drink?"

"No, no, only for you." the truth is Anduin never liked beer, he tried drinking in numerous occasions because he was being polite, but he usually avoided it if he could.

"Although I still don't understand the reason for your invitation. I found it a bit strange."

"Straight to the point?"

"If you would be so kind." Anduin set aside his plate a little to lean well on the table.

"Maybe you know already, but I will probably be in Kul Tiras for diplomacy and battles soon. It turns out that I need someone to stay and have some control from here." Muradin blinked.

"Are you telling me that you want me to be the one?"

"Exactly that."

"Wow, I... I feel flattered, but why me?"

"Right now I can't think of anyone who can play that role better than you. Your reputation precedes you, you have the experience. I trust you." Muradin scratched his beard.

"I didn't imagine you would ask me something like that, I don't know what to say, are you sure?"

"Completely. Just to clarify, you really won't carry my responsibilities." he explained. "It's essentially for army movements and if something very serious happens, it's you who notifies me. It's like being a sentinel. I won't make you carry any responsibility, I just need someone trustworthy while I am not here."

"Ummm..." Muradin appear to be having an inner conflict until he sighed calmly. "Okay, fine, I'll help you." Anduin's eyes shone a little.

"Really? Thank you so much!"

"It's an honor. Besides, your father would want it that way too."

While Muradin was smiling, Anduin had to make an effort to keep his smile. The young king didn't understand why Muradin had to say that. In the end, the verdict that convinced him was that Varian would have liked it that way, not that he was really going to do for Anduin specifically. Lately Anduin only lived by small favors that his father had left behind, as if he had never really earned a place, as if he lived from a shadow.

Well, at least Muradin accepted and the young king shouldn't worry about that matter anymore.

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Anduin spent most of the day with Muradin. He had to teach him so the dwarf wouldn't get lost: Where he could check the soldiers they had, where he could recruit, how to handle the SI:7 with its rules and endless things. He also had to update him on Wrathion's situation, he wasn't sure if they would leave together to Kul Tiras or the dragon wouldn't go if he couldn't get enough information on time.

Anduin was also personally notified by Calia that they would leave at once in four days. An emotion arose Anduin's chest, he was finally going to leave a desperate monotony. Although he had to admit that thanks to Wrathion some days were more bearable.

That same afternoon, Anduin was captivated looking at the sea. Without warning, with a gentle breeze hitting his face, that day the sunset was the most orange he had seen in a long time and covered the city completely. He wondered if in Kul Tiras it would also look like this. He got a little lost in his thoughts. Would he be good enough? The young king recalled that in the battle of Lordaeron he was quite scared and his escape was his faith in the Light. It was also worth noting that for a while there was a certainty of imminent death if it wasn't for Jaina and her entrance in the end. If it wasn't for her, would it have been an embarrassing defeat? Or worse, would everyone be dead? Usually everyone pointed out that, the fact that the city was bathed in blight, wasn't a defeat because the Forsaken lost their home, but Anduin couldn't see it that way. What affected most, really? The Alliance losing Teldrassil or the Horde losing Lordaeron? The answer was quite obvious to him.

Suddenly a sea of doubts assaulted his mind completely, thoughts he had to bury previously came up again. Doubts about how he had assumed his leadership, just for being the son of a king. Doubts about his dream of peace, every day was more faded. But the worst doubt was that he didn't feel able to assume all the responsibilities. Since he was little, he was educated to rule, he knew nothing but that and living in war after war. But now that everything started and he was a king, Anduin didn't feel capable enough. What if he was never really prepared even if he thought otherwise? What if the lack of any experience was going to sink him completely? Other leaders who assumed such responsibility at an age even younger than his didn't seem to have problems in the past. Why did it cost him so much then? If Anduin wasn't good enough people would probably try to get him out of the way in some subtle way.

No, he couldn't have that kind of doubts now. Everything would be fine, everything had to go well... If it didn't work, then he…

"You know? You look like the perfect model for a painting right now."

Anduin's thought were interrupted. Again, Wrathion approached where he was without warning. This time, Wrathion had all his weapons and a bag he carried the first day he steeped in the city and Anduin had no idea how the dragon has done it. Wrathion formed a rectangle with four fingers with Anduin’s picture in the middle

"Yes, you're definitely in the perfect position. A sunset, a young boy looking at the sea with an expression between sad and melancholic with a blank stare."

"I see you have taken your time to imagine things."

"I haven't imagined anything, you were like that just now." Wrathion approached. "Actually, you look sad and somewhat tired." again, Wrathion was seeing through him and Anduin shook his head.

"I'm not, I'm just looking the sea." Wrathion sat next to him.

"Don't you feel lonely coming here and being by yourself all the time?"

"What? Of course not, I'm just looking." Anduin hoped that Wrathion didn't realize that lie.

"Which leads me to think, what are you always looking at exactly?"

"And what exactly are you looking at?" Wrathion was surprised at that question.

"Eh?"

"I mean... The one who spends all the afternoons looking at me is you."

If Wrathion was surprised or confused, he had to make a great effort to hide it. Anduin had noticed, every time he came here he realized that Wrathion used to look at him from afar.  
Wrathion looked straight ahead towards the sea, he wasn't very careful when observing the young king when he came here. The dragon had been curious why Anduin came here but never dared to ask. Wrathion sighed.

"I just came to say goodbye." now it was Anduin who made the effort to hide his confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"I found what I was looking for, I know where to go and what I should do, it was one of my two paths." Anduin' had to think fast, many thoughts crossed his mind about what he should say.

"No." it was the only thing that came out. "You can't leave, no, we made a deal."

"And I intend to honor it. You gave me freedom and the most important thing: you have given me access to the information and I will pay back your kindness, I just have to leave for now."

"I don't want you to leave." that comment was without much thought and Anduin tried to correct it. "I mean, you put me in a complicated situation."

"I understand, seriously, I know I'm making you decide something very complicated. I'm a criminal and you can't let me go, I understand. But if I don't go as soon as possible, he can arrive first." Anduin frowned.

"Who?"

"Someone dangerous. Anduin, really, I have to go."

"Shit, don't do this to me, please. I can't let you go."

"Anduin, honestly, I could leave at any moment if I want and you wouldn’t stop me. But I want to do things right because I have you in consideration. You''ll have to trust me. I will return, I can return here or look for you in Kul Tiras, I don't mind. Anyway my path will lead me there."

"You aren't even telling me where you're going..." Wrathion's eyes softened.

"I'm going to Uldum." Anduin was surprised, he didn't understand what was so urgent for Wrathion to insist so much on going to Uldum. He let out a long breath.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me... You don't want to tell me anything either."

"I promise you..." Wrathion became very serious. "As soon as I return I'll tell you everything, I'll tell you what is really happening in the world."

"Is it a fake promise? It wouldn't be the first time."

"I swear to you. I'll be back." Anduin felt uncomfortable.

"I have no guarantee."

"Well..." Wrathion unfastened one of the daggers he had and gave it to Anduin. "These daggers together have an interesting magical power, they're more effective, to the point that a scratch could kill someone. It’s a shame to let go one of them so I assure you that I'll come back for it."

"Umm." he had to admit that the weight was very light and it was soft to the touch. "I don't know... I have doubts."

Anduin wanted to trust him, he really wanted to, but he didn't want to be a dreamer again. He had already given him his confidence long ago and, although Wrathion looked more mature, Anduin couldn't take that fact out of his head. Then, Wrathion offered him the little finger. Anduin was somewhat surprised. Three years ago he explained what it meant to promise with the little finger. Everyone who broke a promise made like this had to cut his finger, that way you could see who were trust worthy. He remembered that Wrathion mocked that and considered it silly. He was surprised that the dragon wanted to promise something that way.

"If you want." said Wrathion. "We'll meet in Kul Tiras in a week."

Was he really going to do it? Could he openly trust him? On the other hand, he imagined how the others would react, they would probably be very angry with him but... Didn't Anduin say that Wrathion was his responsibility? Anduin shook his little finger with his.

"I swear, Wrathion." he warned, "If you don't show up in Boralus' harbor in a week, I'll kill you, I swear I'll kill you, even if it's the last thing I do." Wrathion shook tightly.

"There will be no need, I promise."

"I hope so. You'll participate in the biggest battle for this planet, you have promised me." Wrathion tilted his head slowly.

"Anduin... This battle for Azeroth isn't between the Horde and the Alliance." Anduin blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you'll notice in this time. And if not, I'll tell you."

Wrathion got up to grab his bag, but stopped when he took a step.

"One last thing…" Anduin looked at him curious. "Since I arrived here you have been in a very bad mood, sometimes it looked that you were sick. Be careful and please take care of yourself."

Wrathion began to walk before Anduin said anything. Anduin grabbed the dagger tightly, this decision was probably one of the biggest and most daring bets he had made, but for now he hoped it would work out.

"Be careful you too, Wrathion."

The truth is that he had become so used to Wrathion's presence and playing some board games every day that it saddened him that the dragon had to leave so suddenly. Anduin blamed himself for it, that the reason he didn't want him to leave was because he was going to miss him. He had many doubts about what Wrathion said. At first he didn't take him seriously, but now Anduin strongly suspected that there was really something dangerous hidden somewhere. Wrathion, no matter how indifferent he could be with things, always did the impossible to carry out his plans to protect the world and this time it really seemed to be something important.

Anduin prayed to the Light so that his confidence was not misplaced and for once something went well at last.

One week, only one week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Legiuns should be a real thing lol  
see you next chapter


	8. Leo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a bit, this chapter gave me some headaches... so maybe it's bad translation, sorry about that! I think you'll get the idea tho

That day brought menacing clouds of rain. While Anduin was sitting on the bow, he could see those clouds. He felt a little sorry, any plan to explore for a bit, even if it was only the harbor, could be canceled. Despite that, he was glad to finally go. Those four days since Wrathion left were a hell of boredom, even one day he started to roll on his bed trying to entertain himself. Dereck was the first to know about his decision to let Wrathion leave and everything the spy asked was if the young king had gone mad. Anduin already imagined that this question would be the main reaction of everyone. He had to calm down Dereck first, and later, he had to repeat with Mia. If the two of them weren’t leaders and reacted the same way, one couldn't imagine how the leaders were going to react, especially Genn.

On that ship he ended up taking others he needed. Dereck would return to his original job and Tess would stop glaring at him. He also decided to take Mia, Anduin couldn't leave her there separated from her family any longer, especially since Teldrassil's events still persisted in her mind, it was the best if she was close to them.

After an hour, they docked at the harbor and the clouds made the sky darker. Calia said goodbye to Anduin temporarily, she wanted to return to Drustvar as soon as possible and continue with her small investigations of the Drust. After a few minutes, someone grabbed Anduin by the neck and stuck their fist on his head, moving it slightly.

"Thanks for bringing him back, finally." Tess's unmistakable voice relieved Anduin.

"You're welcome, but let me go."

"Tess, don't continue." said Genn approaching. "You aren't doing it with enough strength." when Tess released him, Genn grabbed Anduin the same way and did the same thing but harder. "Boy, I'm glad to see you!"

"Leave the child alone." Mia intervened pinching her husband's ear causing Genn to release him. Anduin rubbed his head with one hand somewhat sore.

"I'm glad to see you too, but if possible less painfully next time." Anduin said smiling. Genn ruffled Anduin's hair affectionately smiling.

"It was time, boy. We'll have to catch up. First of all you have to go see Katherine."

"I supposed I would have to."

"Do you know everything that happened?"

Of course he knew. Anduin didn’t stop receiving news for the last few days. He was frustrated because he hadn't been there. Katherine forgave Jaina and now she owned the Kultiran fleet that corresponded to her by right, she was named Lord Admiral. Priscilla sieged Boralus, but Jaina, with the fleet, thwarted the siege plans. In those days Kul Tiras ended up deciding they would finally join the Alliance. In part, Anduin had to thank Genn because he was the main person who made Katherine open her eyes. It turned out that the one who usually managed diplomacy worse was the one who saved the day and Anduin resisted the desire to give him a hug for it.  
There was only a small inconvenience: the Storm's wake house. Although many of them were there to join the Alliance, that child he had heard so much about wasn't satisfied. The kid was somewhat isolated and had a large number of followers. Anduin knew he should talk to him, he needed all the support of the house, especially because the area of the Stormsong Valley was where the Horde was gathering.

After a while, Anduin was in Unity Square with a large number of people. Being the king, he was the only one who stepped forward as if he was a maximum representative, the others just stared. Anduin knew well that he was just a figure, no matter how much they made him step forward, it was the others who always decided for him. Jaina was also there with her mother and gave Anduin a somewhat mysterious smile. Katherine approached.

"Nice to see you at last, King Wrynn." she began. "Incredible the passage of time, I saw you for the last time when you were just a baby. You look a lot like your parents."

"Thank you, Lady Proudmoore." Katherine looked at the members of the other houses.

“I shall keep this brief. Divisions between us make us vulnerable, we used to call our enemies friends. The Horde has already made its intentions clear, they want to see us dead. I want you to put your faith in Jaina, the true Lord Admiral, and to renew our bond with the Alliance, whose heroes have saved us from our own unmaking. What say you?" A young girl stepped forward.

"House Waycrest stands with you, Lord Admiral, and the Alliance." she knelt. A man approached a little doubtfully.

"I don't know what to do with Leo, I still have to talk to him. But the Storm's wake shall guide the fleet to victory for the Alliance, as we have before." he knelt as well.

"Thank you very much, all of you." said Jaina. "I will do everything I can to prove worthy of your trust."

"We will talk to Leo later." Katherine said. Anduin at that moment stepped forward.

"It is a pleasure and honor to welcome Kul Tiras back to the Alliance. May the Light guide us to victory." Anduin backed away and the others returned to their place. Katherine cleared her throat.

"There's someone you should meet, King Wrynn. Someone who, along with your champions, has helped us a lot, even saved my life." at that moment, a young girl approached him.

"It is an honor to meet you, King Wrynn. My name is Taelia." she took a pause. "Taelia Fordragón." Anduin blinked confused.

"Fordragon!?"

"Bolvar's daughter. Fostered under our protection since the Third War." Katherine explained.

"Please, the honor is mine, Taelia." Anduin said still surprised, she looked at him.

"You knew my father, right? The letters stopped coming. I... have so many questions..."

"Taelia, if time permits, I invite you to whatever you want. I have a thousand stories to share about your father."

She bowed as if she was happy with the proposal and walked away with a smile. Anduin still was surprised. Bolvar's daughter? He knew that sometimes Bolvar wrote letters to a loved one, but he never imagined that it was to his own daughter.

The meeting finished for now, the only thing that worried Anduin now was the kid and the Horde. He supposed he had to speak first with the man who had appeared in the name of the Storm's wake, he looked reliable enough to give important information. Genn approached him after a few minutes with an unfriendly look.

"It's great they joined us, right?" Genn said kind of angry.

"Yes, it was time. Is something wrong?"

"You have something to tell me? Maybe something about some deal you have made?"

Anduin understood what he meant. Probably Dereck had already told him his decision about Wrathion and that’s why he looked upset. The young king had to take a long breath and prepare to deal with, probably, the wrath of a worgen in the middle of a full moon night.

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"YOU HAVE DONE WHAT!? " Anduin raised his hands to calm him down a little.

"Wait a minute, don't kill me yet, I can explain, Genn."

"EXPLAIN WHAT EXACTLY?"

"Just calm down a little, will you?" Genn sighed to calm down but moved towards Anduin, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him a little.

"Anduin, Anduin, my boy... Have you lost your mind? But what are you doing?"

"It's only temporary, really, in three days he’ll come and everything will be solved."

"Do you even have any kind of guarantee?"

"I have it, he’ll surely come, you shouldn't worry."

"I shouldn't worry? THAT I SHOULDN'T WORRY?"

"Alright, you have all the right to worry, but trust me, okay? You said it would be my responsibility and these are my decisions."

"Even I, who usually supports you, I'm doubting." said Tess.

"I know it's a risky bet. It's just that I think something is really happening beyond all this war."

"And what is happening?" Genn wanted to know.

"I don't know yet, when Wrathion comes back he'll tell me."

"I don't trust the word of someone who betrayed you long ago, Anduin."

"Then trust mine." Genn rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"I need to sleep and digest this. But you should know something, Anduin. If it doesn't work out, it will be only your fault."

Genn left the room annoyed. Anduin was left alone with Tess and Dereck, who had stayed in a corner fearing Genn's temper. Tess sighed.

"Do you trust the dragon?" she asked.

"I slightly trust him."

"Listen, I remember how you talked about him three years ago when he made all that mess, Anduin. You came to hate him and said you never wanted to see him again."

"That was because I was angry at the time. Things have changed and I’m not spiteful."

"Haven't you thought he fools you?" Dereck asked.

"I don't think he fooled me."

"Has the dragon done something weird?" Tess asked Dereck.

"The truth is, no. I told you once, he was very quiet and just moved to look for books or play board games with Anduin." Tess looked surprised at Anduin.

"Did you really play with him?"

"I was bored sometimes, okay?" Anduin justified heavily.

"I’m starting to think he earned your sympathy by doing that." she suggested.

"What?"

"Earn your trust by doing that. Taking advantage of the fact that you were alone and bored. He's a black dragon, we know how they are."

"Hey, if it's for family, you should all think that I'm a warrior. You know what? I'm not."

"I think you're being stubborn, Anduin.”

Anduin felt somewhat upset when Tess and Dereck left the room. He understood that Wrathion was a black dragon and raised suspicions, but nobody was going to give a vote of confidence to his decision? Not even a bit? Genn's eyes had shone with murderous anger for a while.  
Anduin had settled well in his provisional room. Katherine left him one of the best rooms of the Proudmoore Keep. He wasn't sure if he could sleep well that night, too many things happened in a short time. When Anduin unfastened his belt, he saw the dagger that Wrathion had given him. The hilt was bathed in black crystals and it had a small, bright red stone on the edge. He couldn't get out of his mind what Tess said. What if it was true that Wrathion earned his sympathy because he wanted to escape? A cold sensation ran through his body. No, if he began to doubt his decisions, it was over for him. Anduin sank into the pillow and relaxed, he felt too exhausted after such a day and needed to clear his mind for tomorrow.

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Anduin couldn't say he had a very pleasant night. The young king didn't know for sure if it was because it was a different bed or he just had a nightmare he couldn't remember. Anduin woke up with a long yawn as he stretched. It was still raining a bit since yesterday, although it looked like it was going to stop soon. Kul Tiras was closer to The Maelstorm, so he had to get used to this weather soon.

That morning a small meeting was arranged with a Tidesage named Pike to talk about the child. Anduin hoped that Pike would explain exactly how the kid was like and what problem he had. Anduin walked to the entrance where he saw Jaina and Pike talking.

"Good morning." Anduin said to both.

"Good morning, Anduin." Jaina replied. "You saw Brother Pike yesterday but you weren't formally introduced."

"It is a pleasure, King Wrynn." Pike approached and Anduin shook his hand tightly.

"The pleasure is mine, Brother Pike. I have some questions."

Pike smiled kindly at him and Jaina decided to leave so they could speak alone. Both men went to one of the small dining rooms, empty at that moment, to talk calmly.

"Well," Anduin began. "I have been told that the head of the household does not want to collaborate."

"Exactly. So far I have not seen him being so stubborn with something before."

"Please, tell me."

"His name is Leo Stormsong and he is eight years old. Most of his life he lived with his parents, but since Lord Stormsong started to use the powers of the Void a year ago, the lady of the house decided to move away from him with Leo."

"But they were still part of the house, right? I mean, there was no divorce, right?"

"She did not have the courage to talk to Lord Stormsong about it, let's say that she isolated herself in a subtle way, so Leo has not seen his father since."

"What happened to the lady of the house?"

"Five months ago she died of natural causes, fever took her away."

"I'm sorry. Are you sure it was natural? Was there any kind of intervention by the Lord or something like that?"

"Not at all. But Leo has changed a lot since then, to the point where sometimes I do not recognize him."

"Can you provide me some details?" Pike scratched his beard.

"Leo was a very good boy, a polite and cheerful boy who whenever he saw someone he liked, he ran and hugged them and wanted to play with them. He didn’t like very much that his mother separated him from his father, but he didn’t understand his father's betrayal very well, so he dealt with it his own way, but..." Pike took a pause. "After his mother's death he began to act strangely. Sometimes Leo was... himself, I guess... But there were other times he seemed like he was someone else."

"What if he just felt sad or missed his parents?"

"I don't think it was that... Sometimes he said things that made no sense. Leo was never a too smart boy but suddenly he spoke like an experienced adult or simply says things he would never have said. He has mood swings very fast and sometimes..." Pike lowered his voice for some reason. "Sometimes I think he is another person."

"How worrying are his mood swings?"

"Very worrying. I'm sorry I can't offer you much more, but every time I ask him questions, he evades me in ways I don't expect."

"Well, maybe I can figure him out. From the first day he said he was not going to help us?"

"Exactly. He flatly refused."

"Has he given any reason?"

"It's a bit strange, Leo has never given a firm answer, he only has muttered that he doesn't want the Alliance to ruin some plan."

"What kind of plan were we going to ruin, exactly?"

"I have no idea. The strangest thing is that he is indifferent to the Horde, even if they attacked Brennadam Square and half the town is under their control." Anduin blinked.

"How can he be indifferent about something like that?" Pike shrugged. "Anyway, can I talk to him today?"

"Sure, if you let me prepare it a little, consider it done."

Anduin nodded. It was not the first time he had to deal with someone very stubborn. Nor did he consider that handling a child would be very difficult.

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Anduin looked amazed at the Stormsong Valley, it had been a while since he saw a green as intense as Pandaria. Although the north was threatened with rain, in the south the sun shone brightly while heading to Brennadam, the main town and the area where Leo was staying. Brennadam was very calm and there weren't too many people. Anduin was able to breathe the clean air of the area and was filled with security. He had not gone with many people, his only acquaintance was Dereck and the spy was there because he wanted to. Pike left the main house and welcomed everyone to the place and invited Anduin inside. A small conference was agreed where only he, Leo and Pike would be.

When Pike opened the door of what looked like a large dining room, Anduin could see him. Leo was still quite small in stature and had short brown hair and green eyes. At first glance he looked quite innocent even though he had a very serious face, almost reminded him of Anduin himself as a child. He was sitting in a large black wooden armchair that seemed to have lived better days.

"My lord," Pike said when they stopped in front of him. "I brought the visit." Pike bowed and walked away so they could see each other face to face. Anduin sighed quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Leo. You are much taller than they told me." Anduin smiled and tried to sound as friendly as possible. "I am-"

"I know who you are, Anduin Wrynn." Leo cut with a voice and face too serious. "Stormwind's little lion has come to see me." Anduin blinked confused. "Honestly, you look quite weak at first glance,I see you don’t live up to the expectations." Anduin was about to reply. "I am Leo Stormsong, King of the Stormsong Valley, and know right now that you and your Alliance are not welcome here."

"But-"

"No excuses."

"Kul Tiras has joined the Alliance again, the houses have joined under the mandate of the Proudmoore house and that includes you too."

"Have you seen me agreeing to it?" Leo looked at Pike. "With what permission do you do these things for me, exactly?"

"Leo." Pike began. "The Alliance can help us. If we want the Horde to leave or pay for the destruction of ou-"

"The Horde is not our business."

"It's your people who die!" Anduin exclaimed, Leo just looked at him indifferently.

"And I will let more to die if necessary. The Horde have not come here by chance, boy. You have brought them here with your quarrels. And do you come here to ask for favors?" Anduin got angry.

"Are you going to stay there and do nothing? What kind of ruler are you? You shouldn't even call yourself king."

"And it's you who tell me that? How naive. You are king by chance, not many people talk about you, really, and it is not surprising considering your father's history at your age and how little you have done. Maybe you were a spoiled child and nothing else. Now that you are here, do you think you can get everything you want? No, you have brought a war to my shores and I have no intention of helping you on your crusade, the other houses will look pathetic enough for agreeing to join the Alliance." Leo got up from his chair and despite not having enough height he faced Anduin. "If it is necessary to let the Horde roam around here, I don’t mind it, if that makes you all leave this place sooner or later it’s okay. Do you want to fight? Go ahead, do it right here, stab each other and then leave this island. Get out of my house."

Leo went to the door and left Anduin in total shock. Pike went after Leo in an attempt to make him reconsider. Anduin left the house without saying a word. Outside, he began to breathe all the fresh air he could. Anduin was stunned, he didn't take the warnings of his temper seriously and thought it wouldn't be that bad, however, Leo was very clear. It didn't matter if the Horde was a threat, he was willing to let them be there if necessary.  
Anduin was quite offended, he had been personally attacked by an eight-year-old boy without hesitation for a second, something he had never dared to do as a child. He couldn't help feeling a heat of humiliation and anger, the young king suddenly stopped feeling self confidence and didn't want to deal with Leo again. Dereck walked towards him quite lively but his smile disappeared when he saw Anduin's face. Once the situation was explained, Dereck himself was also surprised, the spy was so confused that he didn't know what to say and caused an awkward silence between them.

After a few minutes sitting and talking, Anduin understood something. Dereck, who had been in business situations, explained that he often encountered something similar. The denial and resistance at the beginning was only part of the negotiation. If he spent more time investigating the wishes of the other, Anduin would end up finding something that would benefit both, this had only been the first talk. Maybe Anduin just did it wrong. The young king tried to go friendly with a bad attitude from the beginning and only treated him like a kid. That could offend Leo in some way. The young king decided that next time he would treat him as a responsible adult from the beginning. He had to earn his confidence in some way, that was the reason why Genn decided to bring him to Kul Tiras, because he was good on diplomacy. Anduin shouldn't give up because of a first encounter. Anduin felt that he should spend the day there and try to talk to Leo again.

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Although Brennadam was beautiful and the farms surrounding the village were charming, Anduin ended up disliking the place. The day turned out to be a complete disaster and a failure and he was embarrassed to admit openly. The young king had tried to talk to Leo several times every hour without much success. Even if he tried to change his main plan, nothing worked out, not even treating him as an adult gave any kind of result. He literally didn't know how he should talk to Leo. Leo had just ignored him completely or sent him to hell in very subtle ways that Anduin didn't think a child should do. The young king stayed there until Leo told him that if he saw him again he would send his guards to attack him.  
Anduin sat down on the grass and watched the twilight, he tried to think about what happened today. Leo wasn't normal, Anduin began to think that there really was something wrong with him. His indifferent attitude to the war that was taking place was what intrigued him most. Anduin has been in war situations when he was as young as Leo, he also met children throughout his life wrapped in them, none ever showed such an attitude. Not even someone as chaotic as Sylvanas has such indifference, but Leo was willing to let the Horde destroy the place if with that he kicked the Alliance out of Kul Tiras, he would probably even thank the Horde later.

Anduin felt a stabbing pain in his head, he didn't understand anything and the more he thought about it, the more it hurt. He wanted to go back to the Proudmoore keep and get lost in his bed at once, nothing else would matter. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a ball rolling near him, he didn't realize it was at his feet until it touched him. It was a small white ball with a hole no wider than his little finger.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bother you." A very sweet voice sounded in the distance and when Anduin looked up he saw Leo walking towards him. Anduin was almost shocked when he saw him there. "Are you okay?"

"Umm, yes?" Leo came to him and picked up his ball. "I thought you were tired of seeing me."

"Eh? But you don't look like a bad person." Anduin was totally confused.

"But... you said..." Leo's innocent look made him shut up instantly. In previous hours, Anduin didn't see Leo show any expression, however, now he was smiling and looked more like the child he really should be.

"I'm just playing with this." Leo showed him a hand-carved wooden toy shaped like a hammer. In its head, a stick protruded out with the same diameter as the hole in a ball that was attached to it via a string. Anduin understood what it was, he had one too as a child, you had to hit the ball with the hammer and catch the ball on the stick that stuck out from the hammer itself. "Do you know how to play?"

"Well, yes. I had one of these as a child."

"Seriously? Show me!" He said it with such enthusiasm that Anduin couldn't refuse. As soon as he picked up the toy, he hit the ball with one of the ends of the hammer and pierced it on his first attempt.

"How was that?"

"You're a genius! I never catch it on my first try. Can you make 'the bird'?" Anduin managed to pierce the ball horizontally almost effortlessly. "Incredible! Now do 'the little finger princess'". Anduin threw the ball gently and instead of catching it on the tip of the hammer, he let it slide down his little finger. "No way! I’ve never seen anyone do that!”

"Hey... are you alright?" Anduin sounded totally worried.

"Of course I am, but it starts to get dark, they don't usually let me out at night. Hey, will you teach me these tricks some other time?"

"Sure..."

"Nice! I give you the ball meanwhile." Leo placed the ball in Anduin's hand. "Don't worry, I have more. See you!"

Leo said goodbye with his hand as he ran back home and Anduin was sure he had never been as paralyzed and surprised as he was at that moment. Such was the confusion that he didn't realize that the ball slipped on his hand until it fell to the grass. He watched where Leo went, wondering if he hid that he had a twin brother. A few hours earlier, he looked like the most apathetic and dry child in the world and, in five minutes, he was a pretty endearing child. He literally looked like another person. Anduin blinked. Was he trying to trick him?

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Anduin asked himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next chapter!


	9. War drums

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again, I wanted to post this one once and for all, the more I look at it, the worse it looks for me, so I just want to move on ;_; Sorry for mistakes

When Anduin woke up next morning, he still had a throbbing headache. It was more stabbing than he remembered when he went to sleep and Anduin was considering staying in bed. Sadly, Genn was looking for him and had to wake up. It was early in the morning, Anduin and Genn went to the kitchens together for breakfast. Genn wasn’t the kind of person who ate a lot for breakfast, with a coffee and some toast it was worth it all morning and Anduin never understood how he did it. The young king would probably die before the end of the morning. Anduin decided to make an omelette while chatting with Genn.

"So," said Genn, surprised. "he started to play with you like nothing happened?"

"I still refuse to believe what happened yesterday, my head hurts. Suddenly he was another person."

"It's a bit weird, I don't deny it."

"That was more than weird. When they told me Leo had mood swings I didn't expect that precisely. I don't know if I don't understand children or it's something else."

"If you're going again, I’ll go with you."

"Where are you going?" Mia, at that moment, entered the kitchen. "Anduin, don't play with fire." she joked.

"I'm making an omelette, I learned by destroying them all, but look now." with one single movement, Anduin folded the omelette into a half moon. "Perfection."

"Wow, you're good, not like others." Mia cast a cheeky look at Genn.

"Hey, I've made omelettes for you." Genn defended himself.

"Yes, honey, I've tried your omelettes." Mia went to Anduin's ear and whispered. "They were scrambled eggs."

"Correct that, some delicious scrambled eggs." Anduin started laughing.

"You better admit it…" said Anduin to Mia. "Before he becomes a wild wolf."

"Uhm, I can turn the wolf into a helpless kitten if I want." Genn raised his hands somewhat embarrassed.

"Let's not go into details..." Anduin laughed again.

"You're going to blush, wolf."

"Anduin," Mia commented. "if you knew what Genn did when he was young to get my attention..."

"Tell me, tell me, I want to know." Genn tried to refuse but Mia, with her hands, covered his mouth.

"One day, he tried to impress me with his resistance, he jumped off a cliff into the ocean, I think that was the biggest belly flop of his life. The best thing is that when he came out of the water his body was flushed, but he acted as if it didn't hurt and went home." Mia laughed. "After not seeing him for two days, I went to his house for a quick visit and apparently he hadn't gotten out of bed because of the pain. He changed tactics, he started to name famous people and lied about how he had some connections to them."

"Do we have to bring this to light?" Genn murmured totally ashamed.

"It's okay, dear, just funny stories." Anduin laughed again.

"Honestly," commented Anduin. "I believe it."

"You'll do these crazy things when the time comes." Mia added, Anduin only smiled at her forcefully.

"If I ever fall in love with someone."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know, it's a sensation, the majority comes to me only for interest, that made lose mine."

"Oh, Anduin, you're very young yet. With how adorable you are it would be a shame if you never feel these things, I hope it happens to you."

"Yes, boy." Genn intervened. "One day you'll surely walk someone down the aisle."

"What if I never do it? What if I decide I never get married? I don't want to do these things because someone tells me to do it or because I have to be with someone no matter what." Genn looked at Anduin affectionately and sighed.

"In that case, it's your decision. Anduin, nobody has to force you to do things you don't want. Whatever you decide, I'll support you." Anduin smiled. "But I'll tell you one thing, stay open, lightning could strike."

"My lightning was very chubby." said Mia, Genn looked at her in a somewhat accusing way and Anduin laughed again. "Calm down, in the end I chose you."

"Although I do admit something." said Anduin. "I wouldn't mind having a relationship like yours."

Anduin always found Genn and Mia's relationship perfect. They were thick as thieves and there was always a very high mutual understanding. It didn't matter if one was angry or sad, just by looking into each other's eyes, they knew what they thought. This and that the passing of the years never affected their relationship, even the blows that happened, was something that Anduin admired and aspired to. He had seen many marriages throughout his life but most of them always looked like forced affections that took too long to flourish. Varian and Tiffin had an arranged marriage and refused at first, Anduin always knew it, only time made them end up falling in love and subsequently conceived him. The young king had heard such stories so many times that he didn't want to be part of one of them, it felt horrible to force that kind of feelings and he thanked his father very much for never arranging anything. It wasn't that he didn't want to fall in love, Anduin just wanted it to happen naturally like Genn and Mia.

That day, Anduin had free time and decided to go for a walk and explore Boralus. He still had the priority of convincing Leo but he didn't consider it was wise to return the next day. He had to be cautious with him, if Leo’s mood swings were as huge as he saw the other day, in that case, the young king had to wait for the most opportune moment, he shouldn't be annoying.

Right now, he was walking through Hook Point, the most commercial area in Boralus. Anduin liked the atmosphere of the place quite a lot, although there were people moving everywhere and an auction was underway, he could smell the daily tranquility of the place, he almost had a hard time believing that Ashvane recently sieged the harbor. These people were recovering and returning to normality so fast that Anduin was surprised. He also liked that people didn't stop to look or talk to him. In Stormwind, whenever he went out on the streets, people used to stop him and speak or bow to him. Not that he was bothered by such a thing and he was delighted to have that link with his people, but sometimes he wanted to be left alone without saying a word or putting smiles even if he had chaos in his head. Here he wasn't famous.  
He was walking too distracted when something hit his right arm, someone had left a place too quickly. Anduin hurried to pick up the basket that fell to the other, when he raised his head, he saw Taelia.

"Fordragón?"

"Wow, King Wrynn, what a surprise to see you here." Anduin gave her the basket.

"I was exploring a bit. By the way, you can just call me Anduin."

"Seriously? Good! You can simply call me Taelia too."

"Okay, what were you doing there?" Anduin read the sign of the place where “Ruff waters” was written.

"Oh, it's a kind of orphanage for dogs, I just brought an abandoned one."

"Well, at least they have a temporary home." Suddenly there was an awkward silence between them, Anduin scratched his head. "Hey, if you have time now, I'll buy you a drink and we can talk."

"I would like to, I have many questions. Come."

Taelia guided Anduin, taking him to a nearby bar called "Stephen's food court" where they sat at a remote table. Taelia wanted to know what her father was like when he was regent in Stormwind. Anduin had a lot to tell about it. Bolvar was a model ruler and a mentor for him, almost becoming his own father for a while. Taelia looked quite excited at first, her smile however, ended up falling when he explained how Bolvar died. Bolvar fought bravely at The Wrathgate when they tried to storm the Icecrown citadel where the Lich King was. Unfortunately, the grand apothecary Putress threw a powerful new plague in the place, causing most of the Alliance and Horde troops to die from gas, a gas that only dissipated with the fire of red dragons that came to aid them, it was believed that Bolvar died there. It was discovered a few days later that he hadn't died, but he had a much worse fate. Captured and tortured personally by the Lich King was undoubtedly the worst case. Once the Lich King was defeated, Tirion Vadin reported that Bolvar died from the torture. Anduin remembered how sad he was those days and how much he cried after his death. Taelia was silent for a long time, somewhat thoughtful. Anduin imagined that such revelations must be somewhat harsh for her. With the silence among them, he began to think that he should invent an excuse and run away, instead, Anduin simply looked away when he saw a man approaching them. He looked like a pirate at first sight, he had that kind of outfit. His red hair was held in a ponytail as Anduin wore. Taelia looked somewhat surprised to see him.

"Weird to see you here, Flynn." she said.

"Your fault, I was looking for you. Well, rather someone is looking for you and I'm helping." answered Flynn.

"Who?" Taelia then got up and Anduin followed. "By the way, have you been introduced to Anduin?" Flynn looked at Anduin and raised his hand to greet.

"Yo, what's up?" he exclaimed cheerfully, although he lowered his hand suddenly and his face became very serious. "I mean... your majesty..." he made a somewhat exaggerated bow, Anduin tried to stop him.

"Please, it's not necessary."

"Who is looking for me, Flynn?" asked Taelia again.

"Oh, it's our new and dear Lord Admiral, Jaina Proudmoore."

"Why?" Flynn shrugged. "Well, it must be important, I imagine." Taelia looked at Anduin. "Thank you for inviting me and talking about my father, I really appreciate it."

She bowed with a smile and left along with Flynn. Anduin was thoughtful, he didn't understand what Jaina could want from her. He knew Taelia was very involved in uncovering the truth about the Ashvane, so he supposed that Jaina wanted to know everything in detail.

Anduin stretched his arms and got back to his walk through the harbor, he still wanted to see more.

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Once again what he feared most in the world had happened, he had enough to carry those feelings several times ago. Wrathion had blood on his hands, blood that wasn't his, and he walked completely in pain after a huge fight. His head was spinningincessantly, a stabbing pain threatened him on his left ear, where he recently got hurt, he began to feel quite upset about it.

Wrathion approached a man who lay on the sand completely motionless. He was an older man with Gilnean features, although he was never affected by the curse of the worgen. A dagger was stuck in his abdomen and the flow of blood came out slowly. The man coughed heavily when Wrathion crouched beside him.

"She..." the man said weakly. "Has she survived?" Wrathion shook his head rather sadly.

"I'm sorry…"

"Oh... I would have liked... that she saw the beauty of this world after seeing her home on fire..."

"I should never have allowed you to come with me. I should go alone as always, I'm sorry."

"That was never the problem." he coughed again and a trickle of blood escaped his lips. "The problem was... you never said what was happening, you never told us what was here, it caught us by surprise."

"I..." Wrathion felt a lump in his throat. "I couldn't say it, it was dangerous, I shouldn't have let you come."

"That's your problem..." he tried to raise his hand with the little strength he had, Wrathion held it. "You didn't trust us, you don't tell the details, you keep it to yourself... That's..." He choked for a moment and Wrathion grabbed his hand harder.

"No..." Wrathion took a breath. "You'll never be alone, neither will she."

The weight of his hand suddenly changed and Wrathion knew he was no longer there no matter how much his eyes were open. Wrathion put his hand on his chest and slowly closed his eyes. He deeply regretted all this, two people who had nothing to do with the matter perished because of him. Worst of all, one of them had been a ten-year-old Kaldorei, it was too much to assimilate.

Wrathion got up, his mission wasn't over yet. He entered the cave he had sought so much. The books were a source of useful information, however, the location was harder to find than he expected and it took too much time, not to mention the accident he had. The place was darker and colder than he supposed, it was clear that it passed a long time without anyone stepping on that place. It wasn't only sand there, it was also years and years of dust accumulated. In front of him was the Forge of Origination, probably the most dangerous weapon in all of Azeroth, and if someone activates it, it could destroy all life on the planet. Although it was evident that no one had come there in eons, Wrathion couldn’t help but put his hands on his head. What were the titans thinking to leave that there without more protection? All protection spells were extremely weakened and it was obvious that the original guardians, the Ramkahen, already forgot how important this place was and largely abandoned their mission. Wrathion inspected the Forge closely, what he was looking for should be there, and when he removed a large blanket of dust, he saw the drawing at last. It was engraved at the base of the Forge and he had to make an effort to copy it perfectly on a scroll with magic, a task that took minutes.

Once finished, Wrathion had to consider what to do with the place. It was obvious he couldn't leave it just like that, he felt almost forced to do something. Wrathion traced a spell around the Forge, one of protection, drawing runes around. Some time ago he knew that his father used these spells to protect his secrets from mortals, so he considered it a good idea to learn them. After an effort too big because of the fatigue of the day, the dragon could finish. No mortal could approach without falling into the trap of an almost certain death. Despite that, Wrathion had to consider something else. What if the one who approached wasn't a mortal? He thought about that and had somewhat radical ideas at first but waited to see if he had another solution, none of the later ideas pleased him. Wrathion went to the entrance again and decided to do it in a drastic way, bury the cave completely. It didn't take too much effort, his dominion over the earth for being a black dragon was innate and in a few seconds the only thing inside the cave were rocks and sand, nobody would enter there again. As if that wasn't enough, he added another protection spell at the entrance, one that would create illusions whoever approached the place. Wrathion had to be cautious, especially after encountering the enemy hovering around.

Wrathion wanted to leave Uldum at once, he was exhausted from the place and this particular mission, he wanted to get away from all the death he had smelled these days, especially those who felt some affection. He completely lost track of time. Wrathion promised Anduin he’d be in Kul Tiras in a week, but he was already late. He didn't want to break that promise, especially not to Anduin after finally gaining his trust. Although the dragon wasn't sure if he wanted to come back for a promise or for the fact that it was Anduin himself who was waiting for him. Wrathion didn't feel strong enough to fly there across the sea, he could barely walk straight. For now, he had to look for a ship that would take him to Kul Tiras. When he took a few steps away from the cave, the dragon saw someone unexpected, the one who had to kill a few minutes ago was still alive and was staring at him. Wrathion sighed angrily and walked towards that Zandalari troll.

"You won't leave this body or you’ve grown fond of it?" Wrathion asked with total disgust.

"I wanted to see you one more time." when the troll spoke, he didn't sound like a Zandalari at all, he sounded more like a serious adult human. "Have you had fun with this game?"

"As if I would tell you how I feel now. As long as I bother you, I'd do anything." the troll just laughed.

"Did you like the bodies we have left?" Wrathion shook an eyebrow.

"You're a son of a bitch, you don't care about anything."

"Oh, little whelp, don't be rude. No matter what you do, you know I will end up winning."

"I won't let you." the troll had a spasm all over his body and twisted a little, Wrathion could see a flashing red glow in his eyes and thought he wasn't going to talk for much longer.

"Have you got used to death? Little one, it's not me who really leaves bodies behind, it's you."

"No one would have died if it wasn't for you."

"Little one, you were born with a black star, it will always be this way for you. No matter how hard you try, on your way, you will end up alone anyway."

"Shut up." Wrathion was starting to get angry.

"No one said the truth didn't hurt. Do you remember what I always told you? It doesn't matter if the world turns its back on you, or if you end up alone, as it should be. Remember that when you open your eyes at once, I will welcome you with open arms. I will wait all the time you need until you understand it."

"I prefer the company of someone other than you, you will die waiting." the troll laughed again.

"Little one... Don't try to get involved with anyone. You have already seen what happens to everyone who was involved with you, or do you like to see how anyone who develops a bond with you dies? What you are won’t change, fate won’t change, you will end up alone and not because they will reject you, it will be because you are going to kill them in some way or another. Think about that every time you want to make friends.

And he was going to do it.

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Anduin was nervous. He would have done whatever he could to avoid being involved in that situation but, as usual, he had been an immature believer unable to see things as they are. A week passed since he let Wrathion go and the dragon was already late. A couple of days passed and his nervousness began to attack him. At first he believed that Wrathion was perhaps held somewhere or an accident delayed him. He came to think the worst considering that maybe he was dead but tried to get that out of his head fast. But as soon as five days passed, he enraged. Anduin felt stupid and deceived, he didn't think he would see him again. Tess was probably right, Wrathion gained his trust so he would release him and now Anduin had to pay for it.

Everyone got angry at him, each racial leader blamed him as soon as they found out. Anduin swore that he would look for him after this and would kill him as soon as he saw him. The young king didn't know exactly what made him more angry, that he had trusted him being an idiot once more, that he freed him because of a whim, that he kind of missed him or that, deep down, he was still waiting for Wrathion to come back. Anduin couldn't believe he had been interested in Wrathion once again. It's what everyone says, whoever betrays you can do it again, never trust someone like that.   
The person who was most angry was Tyrande. She reproached Anduin because Wrathion offended her weeks ago and swore that it would be she who was going to kill him and called Anduin a coward for not doing it before. That made Anduin quite mad at her. Yes, he had made a mistake, but he also didn't consider Tyrande's comments adequate and, with a somewhat immature reaction, he reproached her that she did nothing remarkable in Kul Tiras, the whole process of union of nations was done by others. With such heated discussion, it was Genn who had to calm everyone's mood to focus on important issues.

  
The day before, Genn went with Anduin to see Leo and try to convince him again without much result. The old wolf also found strange his attitude, especially that day, Leo had been much more defensive than the day Anduin went alone. Although they tried to catch him in a good mood, like when he started playing with Anduin, it was impossible.

Although that wasn't by far the worst thing they saw there. When they were going back to Boralus, they saw the Horde army nearby. Not only they had troops. Assault towers and catapults could be easily spotted. Neither of them understood what Sylvanas intended with all this but they ran to warn the others and prepare for battle at any time.

There was some tension in the Keep and Mathias sent spies to the Stormsong Valley immediately to report any movement or if they even dared to sneeze. Anduin believed that at any moment he would have an anxiety attack, especially since Tess in a report wrote that Ebyssian was spotted in the valley along with Baine and Mayla. He wasn't worried about the dragon, it was rather he didn't want to face Baine in combat. In Lordaeron's assault he was lucky not to bump into him but he didn't know if this time would be inevitable, he felt unable to hurt him if they got to see each other on the battlefield.

Before it all began, Baine sent him a letter explaining that they couldn't be friends any longer, Sylvanas ordered him to end such a thing, but Anduin still thought of him as a friend. He prayed to the Light with all his strength so that they wouldn’t face each other, if that happened, the king was not sure what would be stronger, his friendship or his allegiance to the Alliance, and it wasn't something he wanted to find out.

When more reports arrived, things got worse. More racial leaders and famous warriors of the Horde were sighted, some like Eitrigg, Lor’Themar or Nathanos were there. There was no sign of Sylvanas those days until one morning Dereck said he saw her dealing with Leo. Anduin was surprised at first but soon realized that Leo was willing to let the Horde be there. Most likely they made some kind of deal. That same day all battle gadgets and much of his army were mobilized to the Stormsong Valley. During the afternoon there was an urgent meeting to polish last details. There was a rather strange atmosphere, especially because some were still angry at Anduin, especially Tyrande. Both Katherine Proudmoore and Lucille Waycrest attended the meeting worried. Brother Pike came at the last minute, he escaped from the Valley with a few loyal Tidesages.

They were quite desperate, they begged to expel the Horde from the valley and thereby make Leo reconsider at once, all the war machines and the blight were slowly destroying the place.

"I start to feel sorry for Leo." Katherine commented. "I have known him since he was born and he had never been like that, I don't understand him, he was never a brazen little boy."

"I tell you this is not Leo." Pike replied. "They’ve done something to make Leo act that way. Maybe the Horde threatened him or something and he's afraid."

"For being so scared, he has an interesting attitude" Genn snorted.

"Whatever that child does or not is not our business now." Turalyon said. "If he has agreed with the Horde, he will be seen as an enemy for the moment, then we will see what really happens to him. Do we have enough machines in the field?" he asked looking at Anduin.

"All that I have been able to bring and build in all this time. There are towers and catapults for dozens and about twenty cannons. About troops we have about ten thousand good men and women of all races and we have plenty of Azerite."

"Can you bring more?" Anduin scratched his head.

"If we have already started to mobilize everything to be ready tomorrow it is almost impossible to bring more. I can try, but I promise nothing."

"Try it. The others, if you have any champion around Kul Tiras, order them to come back immediately." there was a general 'okay'.

"What do we do with the dragon?" Tyrande commented. "Any idea against something that can incinerate everything in seconds?"

"With that we will have to improvise a little, I guess." Alleria said.

"Maybe with all our catapults pointing at him..." Turalyon suggested. "The Azerite will be useful in this case. It would have been great to have a dragon to counter the other but someone left him free." he looked at Anduin. "How do you plan to amend that mess exactly?"

"Do you want to discuss that right now?" Anduin asked in a completely angry tone. He didn't understand how Turalyon could bring up that issue right now.

"We will talk about that on another occasion." Genn calmed down. "Now let's focus on this. Is there any possibility that they also attack by sea?"

"I don't think so." Tyrande replied. "There are hardly any Horde ships in that area."

"We cannot be overconfident now, we already saw that Sylvanas brings surprises sometimes." said Alleria. "It would not hurt to have the Kul Tiras fleet nearby." Anduin went completely blank. "Anduin?"

"Hey... Where is Jaina?" apparently no one had noticed that the Lord Admiral was missing. "Wasn't she with you?" Asked looking at Katherine who looked surprised too.

"After eating, Jaina went out." she admitted. "I'm surprised she has not come back."

Anduin sighed nervously again, he didn't know how many times he had done it today. It wasn't convenient for Jaina to disappear at times like that. They tried to wait for her the hours they could afford but Jaina never came to appear. In the end, after much discussion, they agreed that tomorrow would be the attack, nothing was going to stop them.

As soon as people began to disperse, Anduin decided to look for Jaina, they had to count on her help if they wanted to defeat a dragon. As much as he sought, he never got to find her in Boralus. There was a time when he asked Taelia. Both women chatted frequently these last days and thought she would know where the Lord Admiral was. Taelia could only confirm that she had seen her leaving the harbor before the meeting began, but didn't believe it was important. Anduin felt confused, Taelia's attitude was as if she was covering up, and worse, she didn't look to be in very good health. Anduin worried a little about her, but she said everything was fine.

When the night fell, Anduin's nerves attacked him at bedtime. Anduin wasn't well at all. Jaina had disappeared at the worst possible time and it was impossible to locate her. His head hurt too much to process that he would have to go to a battlefield again, he still remembered Lordaeron too well. The fear this time was bigger. Last time, the young king firmly believed it would work out even if there were casualties. However, this time he felt totally insecure. They didn't have as many resources as the Horde and didn't have a dragon to counter Ebyssian. Anduin believed that they were rushing too much because of impatience and the desire to get revenge.

He didn't believe that something was going to dissuade them no matter how hard he tried, that caused the headache to get worse. Tomorrow, most likely, the future would be decided and Anduin was terribly scared.

"Light protects us all." he murmured half asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a pain to translate..... see you!


	10. The battle for Stormsong Valley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid to update this chapter tbh. I'm not an expert on battles, i'm super noob, and if it was hard writing it in Spanish imagine when it comes to translation :S I did my best but I can't improve it more, sorry, I hope it's enjoyable anyway

That night it rained a lot. Anduin woke up several times during the night because of the rain noise and it wasn't normal, he used to have a pretty deep sleep. He wasn't feeling too well, the fear sensation turned into something much worse. When he decided to get out of bed, he was completely dizzy and nauseous. Anduin was quite confused, that didn't happen to him last time. Why did he feel that way today? The young king sat for several minutes staring at nothing trying to imagine the best excuse to not go to battle until Genn knocked on the door as usual. Anduin felt his legs tremble as he stood up. That morning he didn't want to eat anything at all, didn't feel like it until Mia forced him. Genn was trying to calm him by massaging his tension points on his shoulders without much success. Despite that, Anduin was certain that, at least, Genn would be on his side all the time.  
  
After a while and with the armor already on, Anduin mounted up his horse and, with Genn's company and a specialized squad, set off to the Valley. Most leaders were already in the valley, so they were only closely followed by Mekkatorque. To everyone's irritation, Jaina had completely disappeared. As much as the mage was sought, she vanished completely. Not counting on her only put them in a worse situation.

"Anduin."

"Eh?" Anduin looked at Genn, he looked worried.

"You're very pale, are you sure you're feeling well?"

"I'm worried, that's all." Genn didn't believe him and knew he was scared. The worgen sighed loudly.

"Maybe Jaina will join us later. She knew there would be a battle so she might appear at the last moment, just like in Lordaeron."

"I hope so, she must have a problem and maybe we'll have to look for her if she doesn't appear." he said annoyed.

"Do you mean that she has a problem or that she is the problem?"

"I mean, either Jaina has a problem... or I swear she will have one."

Genn didn't want to ask any more questions, it was obvious that the young king didn't want to talk about Jaina.

When they reached the Valley, part of the road was somewhat flooded and the sky was completely gray. Anduin could see that the Horde machines advanced a little and part of theirs moved back towards the sea. In some parts of the land there were small holes as if they had been sieged while they slept. Anduin hurried to reach the base camp in the eastern part of the Valley, at the top of Brennadam, where everyone was supposed to meet and confirm positions. Turalyon's face looked like he's been up all night, although he didn't look especially tired. He issued his commands, the army had to adopt a fan-like shape and each racial leader would be next to one of the assigned siege towers covering any hollow where the Horde could penetrate since they always acted like this.

"Velen is the only one who should be behind to take care of the wounded." Tyrande said. "The others all in front line."

"Anduin and Genn should go together, in case something happens..." commented Turalyon. Anduin knew he said that because no one trusted Anduin's combat skills too much, but he was glad to be with Genn.

"Well," Alleria started. "in that case we should start-"

A big explosion rumbled somewhere close and the earth seemed to shake for several seconds. Everyone looked at where the Horde was and saw a big war machine similar to the one they found in Lordaeron, but this time it was bigger. The hole that had left the cannon was blue, again that machine uses Azerite ammo. Everyone moved to their assigned positions without discussing any strategies, the battle just started and Anduin only felt the adrenaline rush all over his body when he heard the Horde's drums of war. A large army of orcs, taurens, and trolls were on their mounts approaching as the drums marked the march.  
When Anduin arrived at his assigned position, Genn changed to his worgen form and gave him a comforting look, however, Anduin saw in his eyes the worgen was quite worried. But Anduin was glad to be with him right now. Although Genn was only named as his mentor, over time, he became almost his guardian, it was nice to be with him. Unfortunately right now they were at a slight disadvantage and it didn't fully calm the young king.  
Anduin dismounted and took a deep breath, he had to control his emotions, he stared at the Horde army right ahead and put on his helmet. The sound of the Horde battle horn filled the air as their first wave charged at them. The Azerite Horde machine fired once more and destroyed one of the Alliance catapults without much difficulty. Anduin regretted that they couldn't bring their Azerite machine on time, it would have been an excellent help but they had run out of time completely. The only positive is that the machine took a long time to recharge. A large group of orcs and trolls, most of them Zandalaris, approached them quickly. Anduin squeezed the hilt of his sword and looked at all the soldiers who were with him.

"May the Light protect you."

The archers stood in the front row and aimed at the enemies, a small rain of arrows fell on them, but it didn't stop the charge. A spear hit one of the Alliance archers through his chest and died at Anduin's feet. The king decided to use the Light and create a protective shield for them, they wouldn't always avoid death, but at least they wouldn't be so exposed. Anduin had to work hard to cover everyone in a wall of Light, his hands were shaking too much and couldn't concentrate one hundred percent. One of its catapults hit a Horde siege towercausing it to fall apart.

A small group of orcs and trolls reached them and the Alliance soldiers unsheathed the swords at the same time. Anduin was somewhat clumsy with the movements and was on a defensive mode all the time. He moved away quickly every time a Horde warrior tried to attack him, adrenaline was the only thing that drove him. The trolls were easier to fight, they didn't have as much brute force as the orcs, but they were quite agile. Anduin had trouble with the one in front of him. With a fast wrist move, the young king could hit the troll's abdomen and execute him without thinking, when the blood began to sprout, he took several steps back, that bad feeling because he killed someone returned to him once more. When Anduin turned around, an orc hit him in the chest causing Anduin to fall to the ground without realizing it, the pain was so intense that he couldn't move. Genn and another soldier came to his aid to face the orc while Anduin tried to recompose. The young king prayed to the Light a little to ease the pain and when he began to breathe normally he charged towards the orc, sticking his sword in his chest and falling on top of him. The orc writhed a little beneath him, blood came out of his mouth as he grunted and died in a few seconds. And the battle just continued.

After a while, most of the Horde warriors who arrived at their position were already dead, Genn was the one who deserved more merits for it. Anduin began to notice something, all the catapults and siege crossbows that were firing at the Azerite machine didn't do anything to it no matter how hard they tried. Anduin didn't know what it was really made of, but it was absorbing too much pressure.

Then there was a big roar that echoed in his head inside the helmet. Anduin tried to locate the source and saw, right behind the Azerite machine, a big black dragon took flight. That must be Ebyssian, Anduin supposed, he was bigger than the assault towers. Under the dragon, the tauren, who didn't had made an appearance until now, advanced with their mounts. Ebyssian went as fast as his size allowed to one side of the Alliance army and with only one flare he burned everything in less than a minute. Anduin trembled to see that, the tower and the catapult that were there disintegrated next to the soldiers who were nearby, those who avoided it were escaping scared. Anduin squeezed his hands tightly.

"DRAGON! TARGET THE DRAGON!"

Anduin shouted as loud as he could and all the archers nearby target and fired at the same time to the dragon, but it didn't look like the arrows did something but tickling him. One of the siege crossbows near the dragon hit him on the right wing, far from harming him it looked that it only enraged him. Ebyssian loaded onto the crossbow and shattered it with its claws next to the two gnomes that drove it. Anduin turned his attention back to the few warriors of the Horde left in his position. With Genn right behind him, they finished with the last orc there and Anduin thought he could catch a little break, although he had to take courage again when he saw the tauren approaching their position. The sound of a cannon shot went through the air and before he could turn around, Genn grabbed him away as quickly as he could.

"TAKE COVER!"

There was a huge explosion a few meters away from them. The siege tower they were guarding began to fall because of the Azerite machine. The noise that had produced the crash continually bounced off Anduin's head and all he could hear was a high pitched beep in his ears. Genn got up, the shock wave had knocked them both down. Anduin, first of all, took off his helmet in search of fresh air, although he only coughed when he smelled the smoke. He couldn't hear well, the noise of the battle sounded extremely far away and it was hard to see clearly that everything was a few meters away from him. He could only hear his breathing and a beep that was decreasing. He knew Genn was talking to him and it looked like he was saying something important, but Anduin wasn't able to hear him, he just wanted to tell him about a wound he was seeing on the worgen's head and how much it was bleeding, Genn had to go with Velen as soon as possible. But Anduin couldn't articulate any word now or maybe he couldn't even hear himself.  
Then, Anduin saw what had happened in the middle of all the commotion.  
Those shots weren't only made of Azerite, he realized that Sylvanas was being cruel, there was also blight in them. Once the smoke dissipated, the blight took action. Anyone who was close and didn't die on impact was doomed anyway. Anduin could see how soldiers, who were well by his side a few seconds ago, were literally melting, their skins were falling. Anduin wanted to shout when he saw that, but no sound came out of him. Genn moved to get those who were alive, although some suffered from serious mutilation. Anduin wanted to help one who was injured by using the Light, but when he wanted to raise a hand, Anduin realized that he was completely paralyzed. Fear took over him and he began to tremble, wondering what the hell he was doing there, how he had gotten to that situation and why he couldn't do absolutely nothing.

When the tauren arrived, they began to fight with the few remaining Alliance soldiers and Anduin just stared. A familiar face appeared in the smoke and looked at him. Baine was there. The two looked at each other and Anduin knew he was unable to harm him. He couldn't fight against him and it wasn't because he was paralyzed with terror, the young king couldn't raise the sword against a friend even if he was in the enemy faction. If Baine was going to attack him or kill him, Anduin wouldn't resist. The young leader of the tauren advanced towards the young king of Stormwind as he pushed the others away, Anduin would accept his destiny whatever it was and then they were only one feet apart.  
However, Baine never attacked him.

Instead, he took Anduin several meters away from the others and pushed him to the ground. When Anduin fell, he could hear again, as if the blow had brought him back to reality, and he was shocked.

"Don't move from here."

It was the only thing Baine said before leaving. Anduin began to breathe heavily and started to feel desperation without control. Baine had forgiven his life and he didn't really know why. A sense of humiliation coursed through his body, Anduin felt such shame of himself that he wanted to cry out of helplessness.He couldn't be a good leader, he was a child deep down and accepted that, although nothing ended and everything was still going, he had lost the battle personally completely. Genn found him again, gasping for the effort and lifted Anduin.

"We have to retreat, we have too many casualties, let's go back to the center."

"Okay..."

Anduin's voice was nothing more than a weak and tired whisper. He moved as fast as his aching body let him and mounted his horse again. The pain was present in all his bones and the focus was the right knee, it wasn't the first time something like this happened to him. Both kings arrived exhausted at the center and found that other racial leaders were still alive, the only detail that was there was that Halford was extremely badly injured, especially from burns.

"I think..." Turalyon started exhausted. "We have to retreat, we can't go against that..."

Everyone seemed to agree and began giving withdrawal orders. Anduin grabbed the reins of his horse hard and trembling as he moved among his troops, the Horde was pushing them more and more towards the sea. That would be a problem, they could have an escape route to Tiragarde right now, but if the Horde continued to push, that exit would be blocked and they would start counting the hours until they were all dead. Between the machine of Azerita and Ebyssian, they destroyed almost all the towers and catapults, and the Alliance only had five left. Soon they arrived at the seashore, the only thing left behind was the sea, and in front, an almost certain death at the hands of the Horde or dragon fire. Fleeing by the sea was suggested, the Kul Tiras fleet wasn't too far away and could pick them up if Ebyssian didn't follow them by sea, which it was likely to happen.  
Then Anduin saw her, he could see Sylvanas from afar. She was calm, riding a bony horse next to her champion Nathanos and looked to have an air of self-reliance. She hadn't even entered into combat, everyone was fighting but her. Anduin felt angry, while he was living his worst nightmare she hadn't even disheveled.

No, the young king couldn't justpull back and flee, his pride forbade him to do so. He had to reach Sylvanas somehow and make her fight or suffer. Even if he was the last man standing, he had to try, if not, what was all this battle about? Could the dead rest in peace if they left? The impulse was too much, even if Anduin had to charge alone, he was determined to do it, he wouldn't run away even though it was a charge to a certain death.

The moment he was going to announce what he decided, a roar rang far away in the sky. Anduin tried to locate Ebyssian, only he could do such a roar, but the dragon was in the opposite direction to the one he had heard. The black dragon stared at the sky too. Among the gray clouds, another black dragon appeared and everyone who was there, both Horde and Alliance, swore that this was a smaller version of Deathwing but without the characteristic Elementium's armor he wore. Anduin blinked confused when the dragon landed separating the armies of the Alliance and the Horde, causing them to retreat a little backwards.

"Deathwing?"

It was what Genn asked confused. Anduin recognized something, the earring on the dragon's right horn. For some reason, his heart began to beat overflowed and an electricity ran through him completely.

"Wrathion!"

Anduin was speechless, he was sure it was Wrathion, what other black dragon could come here if it wasn't him? He had grown a lot, Wrathion wasn't even half as big as Ebyssian, but he was intimidating anyway. The last time Anduin saw him in his dragon form, Wrathion was nothing more than a whelp with the same size of a corgi he usually saw every day. Anduin didn’t know that in five years a dragon could grow so much. He was very similar to Deathwing, the only difference was that he only had two horns on his head, the rest were all black scales and he thought he saw a kind of tattoo on his right front leg.   
Wrathion roared again but this time something challenging to Ebyssian, and the other dragon seemed to recognize him as soon as he started roaring back. Both dragons threw fire aiming at each other and when the flames collided, everyone had to move far away. Curiously Wrathion's looked much more intense and alive and ended up consuming Ebyssian's, causing him to retreat back.

Ebyssian recomposed as fast as he could, but Wrathion was already on him biting and scratching him with his claws. With the fight they destroyed one of the Horde towers near them accidentally.

Wrathion had an obvious advantage, he was smaller, so he was more agile than the other who could barely keep up with him and ended up with scratches everywhere when no weapon had succeeded on that. At the same time Ebyssian began to fly away, the Azerite machine fired again, causing only one Alliance tower to remain. Wrathion turned around and flew quickly to the machine. With his flare, he destroyed it instantly along with a considerable number of warriors next to it. A task that the Alliance didn't achieve even one percent in all this time, Wrathion had done in five seconds. Ebyssian tried to hit him from above with a small fireball, but Wrathion easily dodged it and also jumped to fly and began a fight in the air.

"I think it's time to withdraw." Alleria suggested.

"No, we have to charge now..." Anduin said now that he had recovered his voice completely.

"What?" Turalyon asked shocked.

"We have to fight now, don't you see? Wrathion has created an incredible gap and opportunity! They don't have that machine and the other dragon can't focus on us, they have many casualties too, we can finish."

"I agree!" said Genn energetically.

"Once again... Reform ranks!"

Anduin spurred his horse and the first line was replaced. Despite the casualties, each leader went with specific groups and an impenetrable line was formed. The siege tower remained just behind the few catapults and cannons. Anduin, along with Genn, went to the center and the young king raised his sword.

"Stand as one! Now! FOR THE ALLIANCE!"

"FOR THE ALLIANCE!"

After their war cry, the entire remaining army charged to the enemy with all his might. The Horde had withdrawn after Wrathion's attack and the first line wasn't entirely there, even so, the Alliance charged mercilessly and took the vast majority ahead when both armies collided. Anduin didn't fall from his horse and moved the sword quickly decapitating some trolls that were in the front row. The charge was a success so far and the Alliance started to gain some ground. Wrathion was helping more than previously thought. Not only did he keep Ebyssian in the air, he also threw powerful fireballs over the Horde army when he could, or used his magic to separate the earth a little and divide them, Ebyssian was unable to keep up. The Horde began to withdraw and Anduin decided it was time to go after Sylvanas, this time she couldn't escape.

A whimper of pure pain sounded in the air and Anduin worried thinking it was Wrathion. Looking up the young king saw both dragons rapidly falling to the ground a little far from them. Upon falling to the ground, the dust rose and the earth shook. A few seconds later it was Wrathion who raised. Ebyssian looked dead, but he was seen moving very weakly. Wrathion flew to the Horde's army and burned with a couple of flares most of the remaining towers and catapults. Thanks to that, the Horde began to disperse without control trying to run away from the dragon. Anduin saw Sylvanas and some soldiers ride quickly to the north, she was running away. He couldn't believe it, after all the bad time, she was going to leave.

"Anduin!" Genn called. "We must chase them!"

"We can't let her escape!"

Sylvanas had already escaped once, they couldn't allow a second time. With a few words with Turalyon, it was decided that, while the others tried to expel the Horde from the place, Anduin, Genn, Turalyon and Alleria would chase Sylvanas. A small group of soldiers rode with them as fast as they could, they were close to them. Some noise could be heard behind. Anduin looked back and saw Wrathion causing a rough earth movement and was chasing the Horde like a cat chasing a light.

Shortly after chasing Sylvanas, they reached the northern part of the Valley and climbed up to the Tidebreak summit. It was raining and Anduin felt a little restless, there was too much peace there. His fears were right, a small ambush fell on them when a troll appeared and ran through the first soldier. Sylvanas lead them there. All dismounted and prepared to fight. Anduin faced an agile Forsaken with daggers, he made several cuts through the gaps in his armor, but Anduin didn't give up. In a twist of his sword, the young king shattered his bony knee and with the power of the Light created a shock wave that made the Undead fall into the bones. Part of the ambush was being annihilated by Turalyon and Alleria alone, but they also suffered casualties. Nathanos and Sylvanas annihilated half of theirs. After Anduin got rid of a young-looking tauren, he went after Sylvanas, running determined to make her pay. However, she turned to her horse ready to leave.

"Don't run away!"

Anduin shouted but Sylvanas didn't flinch and spurred her horse. Anduin whistled to call his horse and mounted, he was obsessed with catching her. Once he mounted, he realized that his body was starting to react badly to fatigue and seemed to be asking for a rest. Anduin spurred his horse on distracted by his fatigue when a Zandalari troll atop a raptor jumped towards him and knocked him over. Anduin felt dizzy, he held on tightly to the raptor and the beast dragged him. His sword fell, he was now helpless and the troll grabbed him by the neck and put him on the raptor. Anduin tried to fight back a little but he was almost without strength. The raptor didn't stop running while trying to bite Anduin without looking at the cliff right ahead. Anduin, in a desperate attempt, he reached the lower part of his back to try to grab the dagger Wrathion gave him and, when he got took it, he stuck it in the throat of the troll. Blood began to spurt when he removed the dagger a little and heard the troll scream in agony as he tried to hit Anduin. The raptor slipped and the troll fell to the ground, but Anduin fell down the cliff into the sea. Genn, after seeing him fall, ran as fast as he could to the edge. Genn hoped Anduin would be clinging to the edge of the cliff. He removed the dead troll and looked down, there was only the sea and evidence that Anduin fell into it.

Anduin was running out of air. Under the water, he was struggling with the raptor, had his right wrist tangled in the reins of the beast and wouldn't let him swim freely. After a few seconds of desperation, Anduin managed to free himself from the raptor and tried to swim to the surface until he saw a shadow moving in the dark under him. Anduin stopped. Something was approaching him.

Genn looked desperately at the water. Should he jump? It was impossible to see if there were rocks underneath, but not seeing Anduin was worse. A movement above his head caught his attention. Wrathion reached them and plunged into the water without hesitation.

Anduin believed that all the air escaped from his lungs when he saw that being. A naga was approaching him. He tried to swim, but between the raptor's weight while he had been tangled and the weight of his own armor, the young king didn't believe he was moving at all. The naga was in front of him now and grabbed him by the neck. The small scales on his fingers stuck like blades and Anduin lost almost all the air that remained in his lungs as he sank deeper. He tried to pray to the Light a small shield, as much as he could at that moment, and from his hand came a dazzling light that caused the naga to break away several meters while rubbing his eyes annoyingly. Anduin felt sleepy, had no strength and couldn't even breathe. The naga recovered and made a move to catch him again, but something ate him. Anduin saw that creature's teeth and a lot of blood, then everything turned black.

He had barely arrived on time, now he swam to the stones quickly. Wrathion returned to his human form as he emerged from the water and grabbed Anduin by the waist so that he wouldn't sink again until he left his body resting on a rock. Wrathion shook him a little.

"Anduin?"

The young king didn't move. Wrathion scratched his head thinking about what he should do. First, he removed the small straps of Anduin's armor, leaving his chest free and placed his ear over his heart. It was beating weakly, Anduin was still alive, but he wasn't breathing. Wrathion scratched his chin and raised a hand to hit him in the chest.

Wrathion might have considered he hit very softly, but Anduin felt that a rock of considerable size fell on him and spit out all the water inside. Anduin turned a little to the side as he coughed excessively and tried to catch air again, Wrathion patted him on the back.

"That's it, spit it all out." when hearing the voice, Anduin looked at him.

"Wrathion... You're back..."

"I'm sorry to be late."

"Better late than never…"

Anduin gave him a little hug, glad to see him again, he was even ashamed to admit it. He realized that Wrathion had changed his clothes completely.

"I don't usually make promises, but if I do, I keep it." Anduin smiled a little without being seen and looked at Wrathion again.

"What happened to you? You told me a week, I even got angry."

"I had an accident."

"What happened?" Wrathion moved a little restless and Anduin saw a large scar on his left ear.

"Anduin, I'm glad to talk to you but... Can we talk in a place other than this?"

Anduin relaxed his breathing, he was fine at last although very tired. He nodded to Wrathion, he was right, they would have time to talk. After putting on the armor again, Anduin awkwardly stood up, leaning on the dragon so he wouldn't fall again and put a hand on his own neck, that naga had hurt him. When he was ready to leave, he saw that Wrathion was looking at the sea with an alert expression.

"What's wrong, Wrathion?"

"Hum, I thought..." Wrathion looked at Anduin and relaxed. "Probably is just my imagination, let's go."

They started walking with Anduin leaning on Wrathion's shoulder, it was hard for him to stand up. He had to find the others and go to Boralus at once, they had too many things to do and Sylvanas had escaped. As they walked, Wrathion looked sideways at the sea. He was sure that he saw someone, but considered it could be the fatigue of the battle that was playing tricks on him and the dragon decided to focus on helping Anduin to walk to his people.

However, Wrathion wasn't wrong, there was someone watching.

Azshara had seen everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good boy Wrathion  
See you next chapter! From now one I have nothing to do with canon except a few details


	11. The true enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for grammar mistakes

Wrathion and Anduin walked to a nearby meadow. The rain had passed minutes before and they could breathe the wet grass. Anduin kept feeling a great itch on his neck and couldn't do anything, he can't heal himself because of the exhaustion feeling. The sound of some horses caught Anduin's attention and he saw Genn in his human form again. He had Anduin's horse with him while the others followed closely. As soon as Genn reached them, he got off the horse and hugged Anduin very tightly. Then he began to inspect the young king everywhere.

"Are you alright?" Genn asked with growing concern. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine, relax." answered Anduin.

Genn hugged him again as he sighed in relief and removed his hair a little. The others upon reaching them looked relieved to see the king safe and sound. Turalyon, when he got off the horse, took a few steps toward Wrathion with an almost surprised expression.

"You're quite powerful, I didn't expect it." Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"With a 'thank you' was more than enough." he replied with the most rude tone he could.

"Thank you." said Genn. "You saved us from disaster, seriously, thanks for your help." Genn went for a handshake and Wrathion hesitated, but ended up shaking it.

"You are welcome."

"Sylvanas has escaped, again..." Alleria said behind. "I think it's time to return." Genn returned Anduin his sword and dagger he lost before falling into the sea, Anduin was relieved to recover them.

"Thank you, and I agree." Anduin replied as he put his weapons back. "We need to estimate the death toll, look at what can be saved from artillery and help the wounded. It is time to return." before moving, he looked at Wrathion. "You owe me a conversation."

Wrathion simply nodded. Anduin rode his horse and decided to return, although he offered Wrathion to ride with him, the dragon preferred to run. He didn't seem to make any effort or get tired while running. Anduin noticed that the new scar on his left ear looked worse than he previously saw, it was as if something had exploded next to him. Anduin also looked at the new clothes Wrathion was wearing. He used to wear strange clothes and it was hard to guess from where it was from this time too. The red pants he wore were from Uldum because of the fabric. But the thin black cloth jacket he was wearing Anduin didn't know where it was from, it was curious that the entire right sleeve had been torn off and he had black wristbands covering his entire forearm. Wrathion was no longer wearing that extravagant and worn turban, now he was wearing a white scarf that Anduin was sure he had seen Kaldoreis wearing it.

In a few minutes they ran into what was left of the Alliance's army, the attack finally ceased and no Horde was seen miles away. The landscape changed dramatically, it looked like half of the Valley was razed between dragon fire and cannon explosions, it was one of the saddest images Anduin had seen. Velen was the first to welcome them with an exhausted and worried face. The good news he gave is that the Horde fled and, even though they still had a camp in the north, his presence dissipated. The bad news was the casualties, they kept reporting deaths by the dozens. Other than that, while they chased Sylvanas, Tyrande had received an almost fatal head woundand was in critical condition. Anduin wanted to help but Velen insisted that he should rest before anything else, he should return to the Proudmoore Keep as soon as possible and calm down everyone there since the last news they sent was they were trapped before Wrathion came to save the day. Anduin decided that all the leaders should return first escorting the caravans with the most critical wounded in case they fell into an ambush, although it was not something that worried him too much if it happened. If anyone wanted to ambush them, he had Wrathion's power to repel them.

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The Boralus harbor was in chaos. The last news everyone got was that the entire army was dead because the Horde cornered them. Only when the Alliance troops arrived, everyone realize there was a possibility that they would see their relatives and friends again. Anduin moved uncomfortably on his horse, faces with small hopes caused him pain. For the moment he thought it would be wise not to immediately communicate that much of his army had been razed, although he considered that he was being very selfish for giving false hopes. Tyrande and Halford, who were in worst state, were sent to an emergency room where they would be in the best possible hands. When Anduin got off the horse, his legs trembled a lot and realized how much he needed to sleep. The young king leaned on the horse for a while until two people hugged him from behind.

"You're alive!" when Anduin turned around saw that they were Tess and Dereck, he wore a bandage on his head.

"What happened to you?" Anduin asked worried.

"Oh, when I tried to go to Tiragarde and communicate that you were gaining ground by the appearance of another black dragon I was involved in a small ambush. But I'm fine, don't worry."

"So," Tess started, looking at Wrathion who was close. "in the end he has returned."

"He saved us in a delicate moment." Anduin looked at them seriously. "Is Jaina here?" Both shook their heads. "By the Light, where the hell has she gone?"

"We tried to find her but she has disappeared." Anduin sighed annoyed, looked at the floor and then looked at Wrathion, he seemed completely lost looking all over the place.

"Wrathion. Hey, I'm talking to you." the dragon turned around.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? We still have to talk."

"Here?"

"Well, in private." Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"I think you need an urgent nap before." after saying that, Tess laughed.

"I think I agree with him." said smiling. "Rest a little, will you? I still have to look for my father and thereby calm my mother's nerves. See you." Tess went along with Dereck. When Anduin turned his head to talk to Wrathion, he realized that the dragon was still looking around, however, instead of looked distracted or lost, he seemed to be looking for someone.

"Who are you looking for with such intensity?"

"Eh?" Wrathion looked at Anduin. "Oh, I’m just looking at the harbor." Anduin frowned, he knew Wrathion was lying. He placed his index finger on the dragon's shoulder.

"Come see me later. If you escape, I kill you."

Wrathion smiled wryly and walked away wandering around the harbor. Anduin walked a little crooked inside the Keep without paying much attention to the people he encountered. He saw that Tess ended up finding her father and gave him a warm hug, she was almost crying with happiness. That was when Mia appeared and looked at Genn almost in shock. Anduin realized the queen of Gilneas had been crying, it wasn't surprising, the last news that came to her was her husband was trapped and probably death. She must have completely despair, especially considering that her son died at the hands of the same person who was now fighting as Warchief. Genn stretched his left arm to Mia while holding Tess in the other. Mia hesitated, but her face changed to a tearful relief as she ran to him and hugged and kissed him tightly. Anduin smiled faintly, at least the Greymane were together again. He felt somewhat sad as he headed to his room, there wouldn't be family member or someone very close to him waiting for his return at that time, a feeling of loneliness invaded him. He had managed to gather some, but many families were separated forever by death and that discouraged him.

Once he got to his room, Anduin sighed heavily and began to take off any heavy objects he wore until he was in his underpants. The cold overwhelmed him and he rubbed his arms, considered it was better to use the fireplace on the room, but with the little strength the young king harbored, he only managed to make a small flame. It was true, Anduin needed to sleep urgently. Almost in one jump, Anduin got lost in the sheets while sinking his head into the pillow.

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Insistent knocks on his door woke him up. Anduin stirred in his bed while stretching and growling. When he got his head out of the sheets, Anduin saw that everything was quite dark and he didn't know if it was because of the clouds or it was really so late. Anduin got out of bed totally sore and asleep while putting on a shirt and pants. Anduin wondered who it could be now but remembered that he asked Wrathion for a talk, however, when he opened the door, it was Mathias who was there with a lot of papers in his hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry to wake you up." said the spy master. Anduin hadn't thought about his face, he probably looked like a drunk or someone on drugs because he couldn't even open his eyes.

"Something has happened?" the young king replied in a very husky voice.

"No, no, nothing happened. It's just they asked me to give you this as soon as possible." Mathias passed all the paperwork to the young king.

"Thank you, I'll take a look."

Mathias bowed and disappeared. Anduin stood several seconds standing with all the papers thinking where he should put all that. He didn't want to sit down in front of the table and he knew that if he looked at the papers in bed he would go back to sleep in a matter of seconds. The young king had the idea to sit in front of the fireplace although the fire was very weak. Anduin took several pillows from the closet and a few blankets and placed them on the floor. Once he sat down, he missed one of his delicious coffees and something to eat, he was atrociously hungry. Any physical complaint evaporated and noticed some energy again. As soon as Anduin started reading the papers he was discouraged. The death toll had been, at least, disastrous. The majority of casualties were under the hand of dragons, both Ebyssian and Wrathion alone did all the work, many bodies couldn't be identified because they were calcined. Their artillery had evaporated almost completely, they only had a couple of catapults and some assault crossbow along with a siege tower. Anduin frowned, they didn't have enough resources to replace everything at that time. It was going to be a very slow recovery.

But what made him freeze was another revelation. Of the entire combined Alliance army, half had perished. When reading the number of casualties he noticed how his stomach plummeted, it was going to be hard to inform their families. The only consolations was that the Horde’s armies were just as weakened. On one hand, it made him think that, at least, the Horde wouldn't attack in a while. On the other hand, the fact that in only one day so many people had died, no matter if they were enemies or not, it was simply too much. Anduin sighed tired as he rubbed his eyes, he needed that damn coffee.

Another thing that caught his attention in the reports was to see that some people said they had sighted leaders like Lor'Themar or Baine, or famous warriors like Rokhan or Eitrigg and apparently none of them had died. Anduin was somewhat relieved to know Baine was still alive considering the tauren decided not to kill him in the middle of the battle. He couldn't help thinking about that moment of despair and felt a lump in his stomach. The young king couldn't go through it again or he wasn't sure he wouldn't fall apart next time.

Anduin stretched again and put the papers aside, he needed to divert his attention from such misfortune or he would go crazy. Anduin decided to sort out the place a bit, it wasn't really his room precisely and he had left everything like a mess. When he picked up his inner black T-shirt, he realized it was still quite wet and sighed. He couldn't hang it out if it looked like it was going to rain at any moment. In a rather pathetic gesture, he hung the shirt on top of the fireplace to see if it could dry at once while he sat down again.

"I heard food is often scarce and people starve during war." Anduin jumped a little scared upon hearing that. When he turned around, the young king saw that Wrathion had entered through the small balcony the room had. "But... your shirt? Have you really reached that point?"

Anduin sighed and looked at the fireplace in an attempt to hide the smile he had, he didn't want Wrathion to know he found funny such a silly comment. It was incredible to him that the dragon always chose the moments where Anduin wasn't paying attention to appear and speak, although he wanted Wrathion to stay.

Wrathion took the silence as an invitation to pass and approached him.

"May I?" Wrathion asked, pointing to a pillow next to Anduin.

"Sure, I have to talk to you."

Wrathion sat quietly and relaxed a little. Looking at the embers in the fireplace, he effortlessly launched a small flare and lit a larger and more comforting fire than Anduin had made. The young king sighed almost in surprise.

"Wow, I don't know if I'm very tired or it's impressive."

"It's just my own magic. Here." Wrathion threw a small bag of food that fell on Anduin's lap. "That girl you were talking to when we returned asked me to give you this if I saw you awake."

"Oh thanks." Anduin opened the bag and saw that it was his favorite potatoes and began to devour them. "Her name is Tess, by the way. She is Genn's daughter."

"I figured it, they have the same eyes." Wrathion watched as Anduin didn't stop eating for a second. "What are you? The devourer king?" Anduin shrugged.

"I'm hungry."

Anduin continued non-stop, his stomach had been roaring since he got up and the only reason he didn't go looking for something to eat was because his body ached and he was being lazy. Wrathion said nothing, just stared at him and that made the young king feel a bit uncomfortable. Now that Wrathion was finally back and they were left alone, Anduin wasn't sure what to say. He had so many questions and just thinking about it overwhelmed himself. Once Anduin finished the bag he looked at the dragon somewhat curious.

"Well,” Anduin started. "to start... Why did it take you so long to come? Did you lose track of time?"

"Almost." Wrathion replied smiling. "I had an accident."

"What happened?"

"Well, I discovered that dragon hunters still exist." Anduin blinked in surprise.

"Did someone try to hunt you?"

"I was flying over the Un’Goro Crater when it happened. I suddenly heard something and I got hit on the left side of my head and well, obviously I fell." Wrathion showed him his left ear. Although Anduin had already noticed the scar, he now knew where it came from. "I admit it hurt a lot."

"Someone has healed you, right? Now that I'm seeing it, I realized it was healed in a special way.

"Yes, an old shaman, his hands were shaking."

"I've noticed that too." Wrathion smiled.

"But in reality, a Gilnean and a little Kaldorei who fled from Teldrassil helped me more."

"Really?"

"Yes, they were very kind, I was surprised they didn't run from me." Anduin frowned at the comment.

"Why would they do that?"

"Because I'm a black dragon." Wrathion answered as if it was something very obvious and Anduin looked somewhat sad. "Anyway, that's why I was late."

"Hey, if you want, I can erase that scar." Wrathion looked confused. "It isn't difficult."

Anduin approached a little and effortlessly summoned the Light in his right hand and reached Wrathion's scar. With the time that had passed it was quite easy to make the scar lines disappear slowly. The dragon remained almost motionless looking at Anduin until the young king became uncomfortable with so much staring.

"What?" Anduin said with a nervous smile.

"Nothing."

When Anduin finished erasing the entire scar, Wrathion took a hand to the area. He didn't stop touching it until he looked convinced that it had completely disappeared.

"Wow, I think I'm going to become a believer." Anduin laughed genuinely without being able to control it.

"That would be worth seeing..." a small silence fell between the two, the only sound was the fire crackling. Anduin clenched his fist somewhat nervously. "Do you have anything to tell me?"

"Haven't you noticed how things truly are?"

"Not from here, nothing strange has happened." Wrathion sighed nervously and looked aside.

"You have to know... This is top secret, nobody can find out, okay?"

Wrathion looked extremely serious when he said those words and Anduin tensed. The young king got up and opened the door to see if anyone was nearby. The Keep was in complete silence and even the atmosphere seemed to be asleep. Anduin closed the door and threw the latch.

"I think everyone sleeps, if we speak low I don't think someone would hear us either."

"Good." Anduin sat back expectantly and Wrathion got nervous crossing his fingers and breathing heavily. "The truth is that I don't know where to start."

"Maybe from the beginning." Wrathion raised his eyebrows.

"At first there wasn’t vegetation, there were only the elements walking on the planet and-"

"Wait, wait... When I said beginning I didn't mean 'beginnings'" Anduin wanted to emphasize that last word, he didn't want to know about the first days of the planet. Wrathion sighed smiling.

"Actually this story begins there..." Anduin looked at him confused. "I think I'm going to try with perspectives." Wrathion took one moment to think as he stretched his fingers. After a few seconds of deliberation he looked at Anduin very seriously. "What do you know about the old gods?"

"Oh..." Anduin got caught completely off guard. He didn't understand why Wrathion made that question. "Well, I guess I know what everyone knows."

"And what is 'what everyone knows'?"

"Well..." Anduin took a moment to remember what he could. "They were in Azeroth corrupting the planet until the Titans arrived and locked them up. There were four... Ummm... C’Thun was in Ahn’Quiraj and was defeated long ago in a combined assault between dragons and mortals. Then there was Yogg-Saron who was locked in the city of Ulduar, he was defeated a few years ago in a Horde's assault. And well, there was Y’Shaarj, we found him in Pandaria, well, only his heart. Garrosh tried to resurrect him but was stopped... And the last one was... wait, what was his name..." at that moment while trying to remember, he saw Wrathion paying special attention to him. "It was something like M'hon or G'onz." now it was Wrathion who couldn't control his genuine laugh.

"It's N’Zoth."

"That, N’Zoth… The truth is that I don’t know much about this one, nobody really knows anything."

"My, my... And why do you think nobody knows anything?"

"I don't know, there isn't really much information. It is said that he was locked under the sea or something like that. The truth is most people in Azeroth don't know this name, and those who know don't believe N'Zoth exists."

"I'm sure he would be very happy to hear that." Anduin blinked confused.

"What?"

"He would love to hear that, thankfully he's not in this room."

"I don't understand…"

"You see, N’Zoth isn’t a legend, he's quite real and still alive."

"One moment, does he really exist?"

"Of course he exists. And if you think I'm a manipulator you should see him."

"But how?" Wrathion leaned a little towards Anduin.

"The biggest deception N’Zoth did is to make everyone believe that he isn't real." Anduin was speechless, wondering if he was serious. "He has been very patient and meticulous about this. He has been hidden for millennia, out of curious eyes as he watched the world move and change. His goal is the same as always, of course."

"What goal?"

"Reach the sleeping titan on the planet and possess her, it has always been that." Anduin scratched his head.

"Why are you telling me this? What does that have to do with what happens nowadays?" Wrathion laughed.

"What do you think? I guess you think that everything that happens today is just a cluster of coincidences and that nobody is behind it, that it just happened."

"Did you just admit that N’Zoth…?"

"Is behind all this war? Yes. Is everything going as he wants? That too. His prison is falling apart and he's escaping. N’Zoth influence is bigger now." Anduin sighed.

"How? When has it happened exactly?"

"Since Sargeras stuck his sword in Silithus." Anduin said nothing, just gaped at him. "Well, before Sargeras last attack he did things too, but it was from there that this big game began."

"Game? Why game?"

"For him it’s a game, we’re just tokens. Move here or there, get this or that, listen my voice in dreams or... look at my hallucinations through the Azerite." Anduin raised his hand to stop him.

"What does Azerite have to do with this?" Wrathion looked confused at the question.

"Everything? Really..." Wrathion put his hands to his head and rubbed his eyes as he laughed. "Seriously, I'm not surprised N'Zoth is winning and has so much advantage. Let me put you in a situation, okay? After a giant sword gets stuck on the planet, a substance that had never appeared before begins to sprout from the planet. Curiously, this substance has properties of insufflating a destructive power to weapons and it also has the power to heal mortals. And this makes both factions forget that, until a couple of days ago, they were fighting together, only to kill each other for the Azerite and nobody really wonders why."

"They say it's Azeroth’s blood."

"It's true, it is. Tell me one thing, what did you see in your mind the first time you touched the Azerite?" Anduin frowned. The question surprised him deep down because he had been caught. When the Azerite touched his hand for the first time, Anduin saw something in his mind.

"I could see... A united world, peace was a reality at last."

"That's your biggest dream, isn't it?"

"Yes." Wrathion sighed and looked at him sympathetically.

"When Sargeras stuck his sword, N’Zoth prison collapsed a little. Azeroth bled and he took advantage of that. The power of N’Zoth is mental and affects any being, so when the Azerite came out, he introduced a small, how to call it, curse? Just as Yogg-Saron did with his own curse of flesh. N’Zoth mentally manipulates beings through the Azerite, he shows you your biggest dream come true, so you would believe that only with the Azerite you can achieve it. And with that, everyone began to kill each other. Obviously all of you believed that the Azerite could make your dreams come true because it has the properties, it's the blood of Azeroth after all, but there is a deception that no one of you had noticed... I wonder what Sylvanas saw."

Anduin was speechless. He wasn't sure to be processing all that correctly due to the fatigue of the day. He stared at the fire. What if what Wrathion was saying was true? The most rational part of him didn't believe such a story too much, but Anduin had to admit that some things Wrathion said made some sense. After the Burning Legion, there was a small period of peace because, after both factions fought together, they got quite used to being together and everything went well until the Azerite began to appear. Sylvanas wasn't someone who wanted peace, that was certain, but Anduin always suspected that there was something else behind when her first attacks began. He never understood why people started acting so violently and desperate to monopolize all the Azerite when it was initially suggested they could share it perfectly. Anduin always thought that power simply blinded some people, including Sylvanas, like many other people in history. But now that Wrathion had said all of that, he began to doubt. What if it was true?

"I can understand," started Wrathion. "that it can be a bit shocking and somewhat difficult to believe, but as I told you, this plan to divide you has been a success because you never considered something like N'Zoth's influence on your lives." Anduin scratched the back of his neck.

"I'm just processing. One question, why did you tell me then that you needed my help?"

"Huy." Wrathion sighed. "Okay, this is the most amazing part of this whole game. And if you have trouble processing the other thing, I can't imagine how much this will cost you to process."

"I don't know what could be more incredible than the fact that N’Zoth is real and has conspired all this war."

"Well, probably the fact that he usually possess a specific type of people." Anduin blinked confused once more.

"Possess? I thought that the old gods corrupt."

"That's the others, N’Zoth is different. I don't blame you, I also thought they all corrupt until I saw it."

"But how?"

"As I said before, N’Zoth's power is mental. There are few who he has possessed, but enough to mess up things. One of them was my father." Wrathion looked a bit sad when he say that and Anduin realized. It had always been said that Deathwing went crazy, but he never heard a version in which they said Deathwing was possessed by an old god.

"Did he possessed your father to do those things?"

"As long as he is released in the future, N’Zoth is capable of that and more." Wrathion took a moment. "Do you want to know what I did all this time?"

"Sure."

"I was locating these possessed people and killing them." Anduin moved restlessly.

"Kill them? Wasn't there anything else you could do?"

"No, once you fall into his trap there is no going back, you die or you will continue like this until the end." seeing Anduin's almost annoyed face he sighed. "I had no choice. Also, thanks to that, I slowed him down a bit. Now there are only the most important ones I suppose. There aren't many and I had to come here anyway."

"How many?"

"One is in Zandalar, two in Kul Tiras. I know who two of them are, so I won't have trouble finding them. Then there is another that will be very difficult to kill I’m afraid."

"Who are they?"

"Before talking about those I want to talk to you about the difficult one. She is someone who has been with N’Zoth for about ten thousand years."

"So long?"

"Forever, can you think of who it can be?" Anduin frowned.

"How would I know?"

"It's really simple. Come on, ten thousand years ago, so is an elf or troll, someone who wanted a lot of power... One of her minions attacked you today..." Anduin looked to the sides as if the walls were going to tell him the answer. "Oh, come on…"

"I have no idea."

"Azshara." Anduin opened his mouth.

"She?"

"Of course, what kind of history lessons have you received, really? Azshara tried to ally with Sargeras for power but it obviously didn't work out. Well, I'll assume you know what happened to the Well of Eternity, it caused a cataclysm that divided the earth. Then Azshara and her damn followers fled to the sea and reached the bottom. I think you can imagine who she found." Anduin nodded. "The truth is that N’Zoth didn't even have to follow the procedures he always uses to possess people, you know? Just by showing her promises of power was enough... Azshara wasn't very smart. N’Zoth turned them into nagas and well, the rest is history."

"I guess she won't be someone easy to catch."

"Well, no. She's in the submerged city of Nazjatar, it's not easy. Although that will be a matter for later, there are closer problems. Today was the day I realized that there are two possessed people in Kul Tiras."

"What? Why?"

"Because as soon as I set foot in Boralus I felt N’Zoth’s presence too close. By the way it looks, is someone who has been possessed very recently, but very recently if I can feel it so easily. I just have to know who is."

"And the other one in Kul Tiras?"

"Oh, it's a boy who proclaims himself king." Anduin suddenly felt a lump in his stomach.

"You aren't talking about Leo, are you?"

"Yes, that's his name"

"It cannot be. I've visited him and talked to him, he can't..." Anduin stopped dead.

"Yes?" Anduin said nothing. "Tell me one thing, have you noticed any strange behavior in him? Mood swings or just he looks like another person sometimes?"

"Yes..."

"That's normal, one thing is Leo and another is N’Zoth."

"It can't be true I've been talking to an old god."

"Yes, you did. You have noticed those abrupt personality changes because he hasn't been possessed for more than a year, otherwise it wouldn't be so obvious because N'Zoth would have created enough reasons to justify his attitude and his behavior would be normal. But there he is, probably trying to fuck up everything, I imagine." Anduin raised his hand.

"It's a very serious accusation you make, hard to believe."

"I've told you the truth. But relax, I know it's hard to believe." Wrathion’s gaze became serious. "So far I’ve been doing this alone, but I want your help because I want to try something."

"Try what?"

"Try to free them from N’Zoth’s control, for this I need someone very linked to the Light."

"I... I just don't know, Wrathion, this is a little... too much. I also have no evidence and I don't know if I believe it at all."

"So... If I prove this is true, will you help me?" Anduin thought about it for several seconds.

"Well, if it turns out to be true I suppose it would help you because this is something serious."

"Deal then, I'll prove it to you." Wrathion held out his hand to seal the deal and Anduin gave him a little handshake. "Just a small request, don't tell anyone."

"It’s not like I was going to tell everyone right now, although if it turns out to be true we’ll need more help or tell the other leaders-"

"No, nobody can know."

"Why?"

"This is N’Zoth's game, you have to play by his rules. For now I know where he wants to go, but if he finds out that someone knows, he will change his plans and I don't want that. I want him to think that nobody knows yet. I took a lot of risk by telling you this, so, please." Anduin hesitated. "Also, it could be a very forbidden and dangerous secret only between you and me." Wrathion smiled a bit naughty and Anduin turned his face a little so the dragon couldn't see his smile.

"Okay, I'll keep your secret. But you have to prove it, remember."

"There won't be problem. For now I think you should go to sleep, I have already tell you too much information and I shouldn't explain the second part of this story. And if you looked at your face, you would know that you need a break. We'll talk more later."

Both young men got up at the same time. Anduin still had a thousand questions but the dragon was right, he needed to sleep more and recover energy. Before Wrathion came out the door, Anduin stopped him when he realized a small detail.

"Wait a minute."

Anduin went to the place where he had left his armor and weapons and searched while Wrathion looked at him curiously and expectantly. Anduin found the dagger the dragon had lent him before he left for Uldum and turned it over.

"This is yours." Wrathion hesitated. When he raised his hand to take it, he gently pushed Anduin's hand to his chest, making him understand that he could keep the dagger.

"It was actually a gift, you can keep it."

"But... you told me they work better together than separate." Wrathion closed distance and stayed a few inches from Anduin.

"In that case, stay very close to me."

Wrathion opened the door while smiling at him and left. Anduin was surprised. Wrathion gifting him the dagger caught him by surprise, and on the other hand, he didn't know if it was because he was tired, but he thought there was a hint of mischief in Wrathion's voice. He left the dagger on his table and went back to bed. The more he thought about the things he had heard, the more tired he felt, it wouldn't take long to fall asleep.

The Azerite was always the main cause of this war, Anduin always thought the fact that a substance of such powers was enough for Sylvanas to do those things was disturbing. However, before it all began, he hadn't noticed in her such genocidal impulses. He talked to her before and didn't even looked interested, it was the damn Azerite. Maybe everything Wrathion said was true. N’Zoth had manipulated the whole world, though, why didn't he have that kind of impulse then? Wouldn't it have been better if N’Zoth showed him something more ambitious than his usual dream? And if it was true that he had some possessed people like Leo, why did he insist so much on the Horde winning? As soon as Anduin closed his eyes he began to fall asleep. Tomorrow he wanted to know more, he needed Wrathion to tell him everything without cuts, he had to be sure. He would also try to talk to Leo, or rather, with N’Zoth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I guess shit's going down now that the main villain is clear, the adventure "saving the world" starts now. I had to change N'Zoth's lore a bit, specially with the possession thing, but I hope it isn't annoying.  
It also starts another thing, long chapters, from now on every chapter will be like 6000 words at least. I know fanfics like this never succed and I have no idea if someone will stay til the end, but it's my style, I don't like to make it simple. More words also mean more mistakes so... sorry for your eyes.


	12. The proof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again, sorry for mistakes

For the first time in a long time, Anduin could say he had slept peacefully. Although he spent part of the night with a thousand questions in his head, fatigue ended up beating him. Much of his strength returned at least, the only problem was his empty stomach. After a hot shower, he dressed up and went down the stairs straight to the kitchen to have breakfast. Along the way, a draenei stopped him. Velen needed him because of Tyrande's state, she was still unconscious. Anduin decided to postpone his breakfast and ran to the emergencyroom. The room was quite calm, much of the healers weren't there and was only illuminated by daylight. Velen received the young king, relieved he came as soon as possible, and led him to Tyrande, she looked like she was in a coma. A large bandage covered the top of her head.

"Hasn't she woken up at any time?" Anduin asked.

"No, she's been unconscious since the battle. I would like you to give me your point of view."

Velen probably already knew Tyrande's condition well, but Anduin suspected he would ask his opinion anyway. Velen has been his personal teacher when Anduin studied the Light and was very involved in healing techniques. Anduin always thought he would end up being a good healer because of the education Velen gave him and he was very good at it, besides, Anduin really liked helping people. Tyrande still had fresh blood on her head, Anduin slowly removed the bandage to examine the wound closely. The strong blow was on the upper part of the right ear and it looked very bad, not only because of the dark purple, but because of the blood that kept coming slowly. Anduin summoned a small Light to his fingers and passed them superficially over the wound in order to receive information. In an analysis mode, he noticed that Tyrande had a very small brain injury and thought that she would need some rehabilitation.

"What do you think?" Velen asked after a minute.

"This is bad. She has a horrible wound. If they had hit her a few millimeters over here." Anduin pointed to a part aimed at Tyrande's forehead "Or with a different angle, or even a little bit harder, maybe she would never wake up, or never move... or worse, dead.

"What else do you see?" Anduin closed his eyes to concentrate as he moved his fingers further.

"I can tell her primary motor cortex is damaged. I guess you removed all the built up blood."

"Last night that was fixed. How do you think the injury will affect her?"

"Umm." Anduin opened his eyes and looked at Velen. "She may have problems with basic body movements, such as moving a hand well for example. And maybe have some tremors or cramps. But I think with a well-run rehabilitation she can recover. She doesn't have enough damage to say that there is no going back, Tyrande can be the same as always, with time." Velen smiled in pleasure.

"I'm proud of you." Anduin scratched his cheek while smiling.

"Thank you, Malfurion has come?"

"Yes, he will stay here for a while. Unless we send Tyrande to Stormwind."

"For now it's better not to move her and here she’s in good hands anyway. Better take it easy... How is Halford?"

"Stable. He has some third degree burns, but the rest have been easy to heal. In a couple of days and with Light’s help we can mitigate all the pain."

"Well, if you want I can take care of that."

"As you wish."

Anduin carefully replaced the bandage in its place. He felt very sorry for her, Tyrande had survived many wars and was always unscathed. Now for the first time she was at death's door and would have sequels. He said goodbye to Velen temporarily and headed for the kitchen. On the way he realized many guards of the Proudmoore house were mobilizing. That reminded him he still had to look for Jaina and Anduin didn't know if he should give her a hug, as usual, or reprimand her for disappearing. Although the truth was he had no idea how to start looking for her. Anduin, when he entered the kitchen, saw the Greymane having breakfast together and happy.

"Good morning, people."

The three greeted almost at the same time. Anduin went straight to the small cupboards in search of food. After picking up several pastries and bringing them to the table, some coffee was served. He sat in front of the Greymane and began to devour everything.

"Slow down, you have to taste the food." Mia suggested, Anduin tried to answer her, but only an incomprehensible phrase came out. "Don't talk with your mouth full." Anduin drank from his coffee.

"I said, I'm very hungry." after saying that, Anduin returned to eating.

"He's the bottomless pit." Tess joked. "He will overcome you in strength soon, dad."

"Of course not, I'm still strong as an ox." said Genn.

"I can tell that..." Mia dropped. Genn looked at her.

"Don't say more."

"Dad, you still haven't told me what you think of my request." Tess asked. Genn looked at his daughter, tired.

"Don't you think it can be risky? We don't know what might be around yet."

"I won't go alone, Dereck will come with me."

"Tess, it's not the point."

"What happen?" Anduin asked after taking a sip of his coffee.

"I want to go to the Stormsong Valley." Tess replied. "Now that the Horde isn't there, I think it's time to try to fix the small problems with the Tidesage that aren't loyal to Kul Tiras yet."

"Well, I think it's a great idea, what's the problem?"

"The problem," Genn replied "is that we don't know if there can be some Horde warriors out there yet. What if you fall into a small ambush? Or if those Tidesage attack you? I'm just saying going alone with Dereck is not enough."

"I also want to go to the Valley." as soon as Anduin said that, Genn looked at him tired.

"And now you…"

"I have to go and talk to Leo, with everything that has happened is a good time."

"Only if you go with an escort instead of going alone." concluded Genn.

"But we draw much more attention with an escort."

"I won't let you guys go without protection!"

Anduin and Tess looked at each other waiting for the other to invent an excuse to go. Since he knew that Leo could be possessed, Anduin wanted to check it as soon as possible. He thought that this would be the best moment since it was Leo who tried to drive the Alliance from Kul Tiras and give way to the Horde, just after the battle. Anduin thought Leo would have no way to defend himself correctly. At that moment the door opened and Wrathion entered with a somewhat tired look.

"Pardon my intrusion." he said tired. "They told me that I would find food here."

Wrathion walked quickly to one end of the room to get something from one of the closets. Everyone was silent and, except for Anduin, they looked somewhat uncomfortable. The young king could understand that perhaps for them the presence of a black dragon was still alarming. However, after a moment of deliberation, Anduin came up with a good idea.

"Genn, if Wrathion comes with us, will you let us go to the Valley?" Genn almost spit out all the coffee he was drinking and coughed a little. Wrathion turned around and looked at him but Anduin winked and the dragon seemed to understand.

"Boy... The ideas you have sometimes..." Genn replied, still coughing.

"I'm serious, you saw him on the battlefield. If there is something dangerous I don't think it's gonna be more powerful than him. In addition, we'll be few, we'll barely draw attention and we have a black dragon as an escort, what else do you want?"

"I agree." said Tess. "It wouldn't be a big problem, and I’ll be damned if there’s something more frightening than him in a fight. No offense."

"So we have a deal?" Anduin insisted. "Yes? Yes? Yes?" both Anduin and Tess looked at Genn with the most pleading and hopeful eyes in the world. Genn was somewhat trapped and looked at his wife for help, but her gaze seemed to agree with them. Genn sighed and looked at Wrathion.

"Do you agree to go to the Stormsong Valley as an escort now?"

"I don't mind." Wrathion replied while eating a pasta.

"Great!" Anduin and Tess exclaimed at the same time while doing a high five. Mia got up and approached Wrathion, he looked at her with some suspicion.

"I wanted to thank you personally." she said. "In a way, you saved my husband."

"You're welcome."

"Anduin," Tess called. "are we leaving now?"

"Yes, of course, but I need to take my weapons first."

"I'll talk to Dereck about this while we look for a carriage, it's better to go hidden during the journey."

Tess got up and kissed her parents on the cheek before leaving the room. Wrathion also left the room with a very serious face. Anduin thanked Genn for letting them go and after eating an extra pancake he headed for his room. Along the way he kept wondering how Wrathion was going to show him something like that. If it was an old god, Anduin assumed that his power would be completely related to the Void, however, Alleria had already told him that she found no trace of that power in the area and didn't understand how she couldn't see that in Leo. He felt somewhat nervous and doubtful, he was still skeptical. If Wrathion was teasing him or was another of his manipulations, it would be an important waste of time, especially if he had so many injured to attend. When he went upstairs, he ran into a busy Taelia, who had a face of not having slept at all.

"Good morning, Anduin."

"Good morning. Light, are you alright?"

"Oh, I slept very little, I was looking for Jaina all night."

"You haven't found her?"

"I have some witnesses who claim to have seen her in Drustvar." Anduin frowned, what on Azeroth would she be doing there now? "You don't look well either."

"Because of stress, it’s not a novelty."

"But you look much worse since I saw you last time." Anduin laughed a little.

"It's because I can't let off steam at all."

"Oh, well... I can help you with that." Taelia lowered her voice by saying that and Anduin frowned.

"I don't know how you would help me exactly."

"Well." Taelia approached him and placed her hand on the king's abdomen. "There's a very good way to do it." Anduin's frown deepened more and as soon as Taelia started to lower her hand he finally understood. Anduin stepped back and began to get very nervous.

"Well, it's not necessary, really, seriously... Umm, thanks for the offer but I think I will find another way. Thanks, it's not necessary. I'm in a hurry if you don't mind, they're waiting for me."

"Well, the offer will still stand if you want." Anduin started to back off more.

"Yes, of course, see you."

Anduin ran away from her. What had just happened? Was all this a dream? To say he felt stupid would have fallen short at that moment, but he had also felt deeply innocent by not catching the insinuation at first. Anduin didn't understand anything, why would Taelia do that with him? He understood they were like friends because of Bolvar, but he didn't think she had enough reasons to offer him something like that.

When Anduin closed the door of his room, he tried to calm down by organizing several papers he had on the table. Tess was probably waiting for him. Anduin changed his clothes to go unnoticed, took off the colors of the Alliance and replaced them with a brown tunic and a white T-shirt, and this time he wouldn't wear his armor like in other occasions. Anduin began to tie his sword on his back and the dagger at the waist.

"Have you told anyone?" Anduin jumped in fright and turned around to meet Wrathion, who had probably entered by the balcony again.

"Holy fu-Light, can you stop appearing like this? Can't you knock on the door like normal people?"

"No." Wrathion seemed to keep waiting for an answer and Anduin sighed tired.

"No, I haven't told anyone, why do you ask?"

"Curiosity." Wrathion lowered his head and Anduin worried, his voice had sounded a little tired since he saw him in the kitchens. He finished tying everything and approached him.

"Is something wrong? Hey, I've given you the opportunity to prove things by inviting you to go with us."

"That's the reason." Wrathion sighed as he walked around the room. "Look, actually, I think I shouldn't do this."

"What? After everything you told me, why?"

"I told you because I promised you, but I really shouldn't get you into this. Look, last night I didn't see things clearly, but today with the sunlight I have noticed something."

"You don't trust me…"

"It's not about that, it’s just that it's quite dangerous and the more people know it, the worse."

"That's another way of saying you don't trust me." Anduin leaned his back against the wall. "I really won't tell anyone."

"It's not that." Anduin raised his hand as he grabbed his wrist.

"If it's necessary we sign it with blood, I have no proble-"

"It's not that!" Wrathion grabbed Anduin's shoulders and pushed him against the wall, cutting off any escape by looking at him seriously. Anduin was stunned. "You don't know N’Zoth, you don't know what he is capable of if you bother him. Anduin, everyone who has been involved in this has ended up dead or suffered a much worse fate, I don't want the same thing to happen to you, do you understand?" Anduin softened his gaze.

"It's okay, I'm already in trouble with this war, and if it's true that it's N’Zoth's fault, I'm more than involved, like it or not. I think you're being a bit stubborn if you think it's better to go on your own against something like that. I'll help you."

"But it’s dangerous."

"I'll help you anyway. Don't worry about what might happen, two people go further than one, right?"

"I don't like the idea of exposing yourself to him too much."

"There will be no problem, and you told me that you wanted to try to free Leo from N'Zoth's control, right? Without me you won't do it." Wrathion stepped back and a half smiled.

"Alright then."

Both young men went outside and prepared to go to the Valley without saying anything else. Anduin understood the dragon was worried if everything he said was true, but curiosity won.

Tess and Dereck were waiting next to a small carriage, Anduin sat next to Wrathion. During the journey nobody said anything, probably because of Wrathion's presence. However, Anduin noticed something. Until now he hadn't noticed that Wrathion had a tattoo on his right shoulder. The tattoo was a lot of lines without much sense of black color and a little camouflaged on his brown skin. It looked odd to him, Anduin was pretty sure Wrathion didn't have it when he met him in Pandaria.

As soon as they reached the Valley, Anduin looked sad at the state of the place. With how green and beautiful it had been the times he had to go before, now the earth was brown with some blight and Azerite. He couldn't help thinking about the Vale of Eternal Blossoms in Pandaria. That was one of the prettiest places he had ever seen, a magical land that seemed to sing in harmony, until one day, Garrosh destroyed it. With how much it cost to convince the Pandaren, claiming that the Horde and the Alliance weren't all bad to let them in, most of that valley was destroyed when Garrosh threw Y’Shaarj's heart into a well. That Valley could never recover. Now the Stormsong Valley had the same symptoms. Why did the Horde always do these things? Forsaken never cared if they were destroying a place with the plague. The goblins used to pollute the areas where they settled. Tauren and trolls were quite connected to nature and the Sin’dorei only had problems with magic. The orcs, on the other hand, used to deforest or destroy all land where they lived. Considering that they killed their previous planet, Anduin believed they wouldn't do the same, but he always ended up being wrong on this. The Horde always had a tendency to destroy. Anduin couldn't let something like that go on, but he began to understand why N’Zoth wanted to drive the Alliance from Kul Tiras. If the Horde destroyed the place, he would probably benefit. So much was mired in his thoughts as he looked out the window that he hardly noticed Tess ran her hand in front of his eyes.

"Hellooo." she said laughing. "Where have you gone?"

"I was thinking." he replied with a half smile.

"You were thinking about the valley state, right?"

"A little, it's sad."

"It reminds me of the whole area of the Plaguelands." Dereck pointed out.

"Something like that." Tess said. "By the way, Anduin, why didn't you tell me that you're interested in someone?" Anduin looked at her confused.

"What?"

"There's a rumor out there." Anduin sighed annoyed, again one of those stupid rumors and Tess trying to bother him with it as usual.

"It's false, it would also be more logical if I tell you instead of hiding it, don't you think?" Anduin looked out the window again.

"I guess a lot of people gossip about you." Dereck assumed, Anduin responded with an attempt to roar. "It has to be horrible, I don't know if I could bear it."

"In the end you get used to it." said Tess.

"Does the same thing happen to you?"

"Sometimes, but I ignore it a lot, it's something that only concerns me."

"And why don't you have a partner yet?" Dereck asked jokingly.

"My father is strict." Tess followed the joke.

"Nice excuse! I will use it." both laughed.

"And you? Why don’t you have one?" Dereck shrugged.

"I guess because your father is strict."

Perhaps the silence that followed was too sepulchral. Dereck looked out the window quickly while Tess stared at him as if waiting for something. Anduin and Wrathion, who were looking out the window distractedly, looked at both of them with an expression of surprise. Tess, unable to say anything, looked at Anduin, he gave her a wry smile.

"Shut up."

"But I didn't say anything." the king defended himself.

"You think too loud."

Anduin sighed, but understood he was bothering right now. The little journey that remained was spent in a pure awkward silence. The carriage stopped at Brennadam, now it looked like a ghost town. Civilians obviously hadn't returned to their homes yet, there were only a few Tidesage left. Dereck and Tess got out of the carriage at once quickly. When Anduin got up to leave, Wrathion stopped him by placing his hand on his left shoulder, Tess stared at them.

"I just need a few minutes."

When Wrathion said that, Tess went her way. Anduin closed the door again and looked at Wrathion.

"What's wrong?" Anduin asked, Wrathion let out a small laugh.

"I still haven't told you how to detect it." Anduin took a few seconds to think.

"True."

"It's pretty simple, you have to pay attention to a red flash in his eyes." Anduin's expression was full of doubt. "Think about it this way... Imagine that Leo is an empty shell and N'Zoth is the brain, every time he orders to move or say something you'll see a kind of flickering red flash in his eyes for a few seconds, it's not very difficult to see if you pay attention, so keep your eyes fixed on his."

"As if Leo was a kind of a puppet?"

"Something like that. I also suppose that he'll stick with his plan to kick you out of Kul Tiras, if I have to guess... He'll probably tell you it's your fault that the Valley is half destroyed and will use that as a shield. Besides, if you aren't satisfied with that, there is something else you can do."

"What else?"

"Ask him something in history that few people know. How old is the kid?"

"Eight, I think, and what do I have to ask, exactly?"

"A child of that age... I don't think he knows something as specific as those who killed Lei Shen the first time were the Ramkahen in Uldum." Anduin opened his mouth in surprise.

"Really?"

"Well, if you don't know it, imagine Leo. But this is something N’Zoth knows, in fact he knows everything that has happened on this planet. If you try to ask one of these questions in a subtle way, you'll see that Leo has an unconventional knowledge. Can you think of anything?"

"I think so, but why would an old god take the bait?" Wrathion laughed.

"Because N’Zoth is a fucking arrogant shit and he loves to look superior. He doesn't know that you know it, so he won't hide it, for now."

"Well, I'll try it."

"I won't go with you now, I don't want him to see me so soon, good luck. And try not to talk too much with him or in the end he'll hurt you here." Wrathion pointed to his head.

Wrathion opened the door and left followed by Anduin. As soon as the king breathed he could smell something burning, some machinery was still burning somewhere or perhaps the Horde had been burning their dead, a very common practice in their races. Wrathion would stay around the town waiting. Anduin regretted that he wouldn't go with him. Deep down, he would have felt safer going with the dragon than being with an old god alone, but he understood his reasons. Some Tidesages looked at him annoyed when he approached Leo's temporary home.

When he entered the main hall, he realized that the place was a little more deteriorated, there was little sunlight and it was full of dust, as if Leo had been living in pure misery. One of the Tidesage received him asking what he wanted in the most rude way in the world and, after a little explanation, he asked him to wait. Anduin got a little nervous, he was afraid of doing it wrong or being discovered, this time he had to think twice about his words. Leo came to meet him after a few minutes along with two Tidesages and, although at first he had an expression of indifference, his face changed in a way that looked annoyed.

"You again?" he asked with disdain.

"I thought you might like a visit."

"You have to ask for it, you haven't done it so..." Leo turned around ready to leave and one of the Tidesage was willing to kick him out, but Anduin resisted.

"After such a battle do you intend to leave the Horde here?" Leo stopped and looked over his shoulder. "They, with their machines, have destroyed part of the valley. People, well, your people have had to emigrate. Are you really going to stay there without doing anything?"

"You're so clumsy, little lion. Nothing would have happened if you had not come, you are guilty as well, or don't you remember that there was a black dragon helping to burn everything on your side that day?" Anduin frowned. He knew it, he knew Wrathion had helped him.

"It was temporarily, a deal we made, the black dragon is not part of the Alliance."

"I know." Anduin hadn't been able to see anything in his eyes, he was too far away and he didn't know how long he could stay there. He took a few steps towards Leo until he was half a meter and knelt to be at the same height. One of the Tidesages was about to pull him away but Leo raised his hand to stop him, he looked expectant.

"Black dragons don't matter in that battle. Do not say it was only us, the Horde is guilty too. I know you met Sylvanas, did you really let her camp here without knowing what she really wanted to do? Or did you know and you didn't mind it because your don't care for you people? In which case you are a very bad ruler."

Then Anduin saw it, at that moment he was able to see it. He was so surprised that he had to make a big effort to not look too surprised. After saying that, in a second, a kind of red glow quickly passed through Leo's eyes from right to left. He thought it was almost impossible to see it if one didn't pay attention, however, he had seen it so clearly now that he didn't understand how he hadn’t seen it in previous talks. Was it really there? Behind the eyes of an innocent child was an old god? Anduin had to be sure.

"Sylvanas?" Leo laughed. "She only does what she has to do to survive a faction with pretensions of heroicity, or do you think nobody was going to notice?"

"Did I give you that impression?"

"Of course, who do you think you really are? Probably a boy with hopes of a better world trying to be the hero of the moment, but still sucking on the privileges his father left behind. The Horde is more realistic, Sylvanas is not afraid to get a little wet, like on other occasions."

"Which occasions?"

"When trying to kill Arthas, when he was the Lich King, in front of The Wrathgate, for example." Anduin blinked confused.

"It was Putress who launched the plague against the Horde and the Alliance that day, a very cowardly act."

"A very necessary act, and it was Sylvanas who ordered it, that's what I call courage." Anduin saw the red flash several more times. He tried to relax and take advantage of what he had said.

"Because of that, my mentor Bolvar died." Leo laughed ironically.

"Bolvar didn't die there, little lion, the Lich King took him and did him a favor, not returning to a spoiled child." Anduin got up and backed away.

"You're a jerk, has someone told you before?"

"Many."

Leo smiled a bit. Anduin had enough for one day and prayed that he would never speak to him again. The young king quickly left annoyed the place, Leo’s words had hurt his pride a little. The only time he felt so offended by an enemy was with Garrosh because the orc once compared the young king to Arthas, something unacceptable to anyone who knew Arthas' story. But saying that Bolvar 'got rid' of Anduin's presence because he was a 'spoiled child' bothered him a lot, especially for the incredible respect and affection he had had for him in life.

Anduin looked for Wrathion impatiently, after a while he spotted him sitting and leaning on a tree behind a stable. The dragon was playing with two squirrels that were jumping from one hand to another, it looked like he was having fun. Anduin ran to him and sat on his knees in front of the dragon very seriously. Wrathion, as soon as he noticed his presence, changed his expression, worried.

"Wow... You talked too much with him, right?"

"How can we do it?" Wrathion couldn't contain a mischievous smile upon hearing that.

"Are you insinuating, Anduin?"

"How can we free him from N'Zoth, idiot."

"Oh, sure, sure..." Wrathion looked at the squirrels and proceeded to say something in Draconic. They seemed to understand him and left. "Before, let me give you some advice. Now it was because you had to check it, but never start a conversation with him again, he'll only try to do as much damage as possible."

"I have half imagined it, how does all this work?"

"First of all, do you know if a traumatic event has happened to Leo some time ago?" Anduin tried to remember what Brother Pike told him about Leo.

"I think about a year ago his mother forced him to separate from his father and a few months ago she died, something like that they told me. Why?"

"Do human children take these things to heart?" Anduin frowned.

"Of course, all childhood you’re with them and suddenly, bum, it's over. It was also hard for me when my father temporarily vanished." Wrathion reflected for a few seconds.

"Yes... That may have been the reason..." Anduin was waiting for him to explain. "You see, N'Zoth's victims have something in common; very strong traumas and negative feelings. If you have a strong feeling, such as a big sadness, anger, or hate, you draw attention mentally. N’Zoth usually speaks in dreams to these people and cheats them for a while until, literally, the victim accepts some kind of deal N'Zoth has proposed."

"What kind of deals N'Zoth usually do?"

"That depends on the person, we don't all have the same reasons when we have those feelings, don't we? That is when possession begins. A parasite begins to grow in your brain," Wrathion placed a finger in the center of Anduin's head. "at first it is very small, but the longer N'Zoth spends using your body, the bigger it gets..." Wrathion stretched his hand covering the top of the head. "Until he reaches a point where the parasite is so ingrained that it stays there forever. It's usually 'incurable' after one year, but I know Leo hasn't been under control that long. That's why I want to try it, and you're the only one who can help me. I need someone closely linked to the Light." Anduin frowned.

"If you needed someone linked to the Light, why didn't you ask some priest or paladin?" Wrathion laughed.

"For two reasons. One, many would reject without hearing a word because I'm a black dragon." Anduin tried to reply. "Don't say anything, it has already happened to me. But the main reason is because they aren't very… open minded."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You'll need Light to accomplish this, but you'll also need to control and have knowledge about the powers of the Void. You'll have to use them both at the same time." Anduin blinked in bewilderment.

"I've never done that, actually, I've never seen someone do that! It's almost sacrilege to try it and it can go terribly wrong, maybe you just got corrupted or worse."

"I haven't said it's easy, but if you don't like it, then I'll go in there and kill him." Anduin raised his hands as if trying to stop him.

"Stop, I'm not going to let you kill an eight-year-old kid, don't even joke about it."

"Then you'll have to try." Anduin started to doubt. He wasn't sure he could do something like that. The only times he was tested using the Void were very uncomfortable and if Wrathion now asked him to use both powers at the same time it looked impossible. Wrathion sighed calmly. "There is one more reason why I wanted to ask you this specifically."

"Which one?" Anduin asked looking at Wrathion very curious.

"I still think we are... friends?"

Friends. Wrathion had said it without being convinced or as if he was afraid to say so. Now that he mentioned it, Anduin realized he hadn't thought about it at all. Until now, everything related to the dragon was a torrent of emotions; treason, reconciliation, a little confidence, disappointment and joy to see that he fulfilled his promise. Before he moved to Kul Tiras, he didn't know how to think about him. Anduin couldn't say they were friends at that time, maybe just old acquaintances, he couldn't deny that there was a lot of distrust. However, now he wasn't reluctant to be with him. The rest of the world seemed to be afraid and distrustful, but the young king wasn't, he liked to talk to him. Besides, now Wrathion had shown him one of the biggest secrets in the world, what else he could tell him that Anduin hadn't seen before was something that intrigued him. It had been a while since he had referred to Wrathion in this way.

"We're friends." said Anduin. Wrathion looked relieved.

"I'll teach you how to do that ritual, I'll help you to control the Void and the Light at the same time. I think you're powerful enough to accomplish this."

"As long as you're in charge of talking to N’Zoth, I'll try my best."

"What exactly did he tell you? You look so annoyed."

"He said something I didn't like. He also said what you told me too, that we're responsible for this destruction and that Sylvanas does what she has to do. I honestly don't know why he chose the Horde from the beginning."

"It isn't obvious?" Anduin inclined his head to the side. "N’Zoth showed visions through the Azerite to the leaders of each race and observed your reactions… Remind me who started the war."

"Ah... Of course, Sylvanas..."

"In this detail specifically, I think like him. The Horde is a little more manipulable."

"'A little more?'"

"Well, I know some people in the Alliance have fallen to the trap too. At least it's not your case."

Anduin remained silent as he started to think about the matter. When he looked at his hands, he could easily summon the Light, it was as natural as breathing. As the Light passed through his fingers, he tried to summon the Void's shadows. Anduin knew he could do it, he had once practiced it while Velen explained how bad the Void was and how crazy it can get you. The Light resented a little and seemed to fight against what Anduin was trying to do. The king's concentration while trying to draw both powers at once broke down, in the end only small shadows left his hands eliminating any power of the Light. Anduin was a little scared to lose control and thought he couldn't really do it. Wrathion stared in silence. Although it had been a disastrous attempt, he didn't look disappointed, at least he had seen that Anduin could use the power of the Void. The young king was going to need a lot of concentration.

Time passed while Anduin kept trying. With Wrathion cheering for him, he was able to summon some shadows that remained more or less for a few seconds, but it was somewhat painful. Using powers of the Void used to cause a stabbing pain in the head and trying to combine powers is something he should leave for another time. Tess and Dereck went to look for them after a few hours, apparently they didn't have much luck convincing the Tidesages but they didn't look particularly sad, rather they exchanged small smiles and glances between them. Anduin wasn't an expert in these matters but he sensed they talked about what Dereck said hours earlier. Uncontrollably he thought of Taelia's offer in the morning and got nervous. He shouldn't think about it but the fact that no one ever tried to make a move on him in such a direct way had disturbed him. Anduin never thought about it before, he always heard many men talking about these things but he was very insecure because of his education. He stopped thinking about it when Dereck handed him the lion's helmet of his armor, apparently he found it a few minutes ago. Anduin had almost given up on a family heirloom for being clumsy and felt very relieved to recover it. With all this, they decided to return to Boralus.

Sometimes the night looked to fall very fast because of the clouds. As soon as they arrived at the Proudmoore Keep, it looked like it was time to sleep. Unfortunately for Anduin, he still had to do a lot of paperwork. Wrathion stopped him before he left.

"Tomorrow if you want we can start a little training." Anduin smiled a little.

"If the papers don't end with me, count on it."

He was really excited about all this. What Wrathion was asking for was too difficult, or even impossible, but he couldn't help but recognize that it was a challenge, the most interesting one ever proposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anduin using the Void is something I always wanted in canon, let's see if I can do it well. At least he'll have Wrathion.  
See you!


	13. Light and Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, forgive my grammar mistakes pls

She had returned, after a sudden disappearance, she finally returned. One morning, the news that Jaina had been found disoriented in the north of Tiragarde arrived. Anduin was the first to jump out of the chair while he was having breakfast and ran to look for her. Anduin had so many questions that he didn't know where to start. He wasn't at all sure if he could contain the anger, but since he was told that Jaina had been found in a bad state, he relaxed a little. Apparently she was somewhat dehydrated and had superficial wounds, Jaina tried to explain that she ran away from something. Anduin entered the infirmary and located Jaina, she was being treated by a Kultiran applying a green liquid on a scratch on the top of Jaina's forehead. Anduin thought he was relaxed, but when he approached her, he raised his arms and let himself be carried away a little by anger.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Maybe he had raised his voice too much, everyone present turned around and pouted. "Sorry."

Anduin came over and sat on the edge of the bed beside her. He asked the man to leave them alone and Anduin himself would heal the wounds with the Light. That man bowed and the young king started healing the scratches.

"I'm sorry I disappeared so suddenly." Jaina whispered.

"You're sorry? I was very worried! I waited as much as I could, then I got angry, then I despaired... We had to go to the battle without you and your help would have been good for us. Luckily Wrathion came to aid us."

"Did you make a deal with him?" she asked, very curious.

"Yes, in exchange for information he would help us against the other black dragon."

"What information did he want?"

"I don't know, he hasn't told me. I just know he went to Uldum." Jaina frowned. "What about you?"

"I heard a rumor about Priscilla's whereabouts. Someone claimed to saw her on Drustvar and I decided to investigate."

"Couldn't you discuss it with others at least?"

"I was in a hurry, it wasn't supposed to take time. But I had a problem once there..."

"What happened?" Jaina hesitated a little.

"Gorak Tul."

Anduin blinked confused at the name. He had read the stories of Drustvar, it was that zone where the humans, who had just started to occupy the island, went on a crusade against the Drust, the predominant race of the place. Gorak Tul was the name of the Drust king. History had always told that they were defeated, but recently it was discovered that the Drust stayed in the place like spirits waiting to return. In fact, one person who helped Gorak Tul was Lucille Waycrest's mother, the coven matriarch and puppet of Gorak Tul. Anduin knew that despite the efforts to end Lady Waycrest, Gorak Tul ended up escaping and took Jaina when she was in exile. Katherine told that to save Jaina she had to go to the Blighted Lands, a place that was considered the house of the Drust, and Jaina was tormented with horrible visions of the past.

"Did he do something to you?" Anduin asked worriedly. Jaina sighed.

"He wants me to return to the Blighted Lands, he attacks me because I'm the only one who has escaped."

"What kind of place is that?"

"I don't know how to tell you, Anduin. It's just a place of constant mental torture." Anduin looked away thoughtfully.

"Maybe it's... Is there any kind of research on Drust?"

"What kind of research do you want?"

"Something like explaining their origin, where they came from, what kind of power they have... That kind of research."

"Anduin, there is no information about that, you're talking about a time when you couldn't register these things."

"Well, someone will know something..." Anduin recalled that it was Calia who had gone to Stormwind for information.

"If you find out something, tell me. On the other hand, I'm very sorry about the battle. I didn't expect this to happen to me and I'm sorry. Were there many casualties?"

"We lost half an army so... But no leader was killed, although Tyrande took a good one."

"Is she okay?"

"Not too much, she's in a delicate situation."

Anduin finished healing her and Jaina looked well again. She thanked him and announced that she still had to speak with other representatives and her mother for her disappearance. The king understood and stayed in the room to visit Halford. He told Velen that he would personally handle the burns of the High Commander and had no problem doing so. Halford looked delighted to see him. The biggest burn was on his left arm and the other, although much smaller, was on the lower part of his back. When Anduin began to use the Light over the burns, he could feel the intense heat on his hands that transmitted using this healing power. Gradually Anduin began to mitigate the pain until Halford only felt discomfort. That was the most he could do, it was impossible to regenerate the skin, time would do that.

Although Anduin could do that job better, he couldn't concentrate completely. The young king kept thinking about the Drust. Little was known about this ancient race and the fact that his king was after Jaina worried him. But it had been something Jaina mentioned that caught his attention. Wrathion said N’Zoth's power was over the mind, Jaina had just said that Drust's lands was a place of mental torture. What if they were connected? There is not much information about the Drust and much less about N’Zoth so, why not? If he ended up training with Wrathion today, he had to ask him. Halford admitted that he felt better now but it was recommended to keep some rest until his skin regenerated on its own, he would feel well in a few days. Anduin felt some personal pride in achieving this type of thing, most healers didn't reach the point of mitigating so much pain in things like burns of this type.

He then visited Tyrande. Some days passed and she hadn't woken up yet, Anduin started to worry. Maybe he didn't diagnose her condition well and there was something he missed. Without removing the bandage, he used the Light in an analysis mode over her head in an attempt to detect if something was wrong. Right now, Anduin didn't find something different from last time, he just noticed something was wrong in her mind since Tyrande was moving her eyes quickly, maybe she was having a nightmare. Given the inability to notice something different, he gave up. The young king decided that it was best to try to change the bandage since it was a bit dirty. Anduin carefully removed it and let the wound breathe for a while while searching for a new one. When he was about to put on the new bandage, Tyrande slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh, shit..." Anduin said as he left the bandage on the next table. Tyrande tried to analyze what was around her and tried to get up. Anduin stopped her by placing his hands on her shoulders. "No, no, no. Wait a moment, don't move."

"Where…?"

"Safe. You are in one emergency room in the Proudmoore Keep, please don't move."

"What happened?" Tyrande tried to move her trembling hand to the wound but Anduin stopped her.

"Don't touch there specifically. During the battle, someone hit you, you've been unconscious."

"The battle..." Tyrande had an expression of pain. "What happened at the end?"

"We won, we won, you will get well."

Tyrande slowly closed her eyes again and Anduin was relieved. If she went back to sleep, everything would be fine, although she had been stunned and disoriented. While he was putting on the new bandage, Tyrande made strange faces, as if the nightmare from before continued with much more intensity and he saw that her right hand was trembling slightly. Anduin already concluded that she would have some tremors, but he couldn't know how much it would make day to day more difficult for her. Once Anduin finished, he retired to look for Velen, he had to ask for special attention in Tyrande's recovery.

Velen wasn't far away, he was still healing some soldiers. Anduin asked him to keep an eye on Tyrande as long as he could since her recovery might be harder than he previously thought.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Muradin's letters were more optimistic than he had expected. In Stormwind things seemed to go correctly on one hand. New soldiers started to train and join the army and new siege weapons were being built. The only bad thing is that he had to increase the working hours of lumberjacks and miners and Anduin wasn't happy about it. He already had to raise taxes when the war against the Burning Legion was over to cover certain expenses and now he was pushing them to work more without a salary increase that could compensate them enough. Many of his people had complained and Anduin only felt a horrible headache, he had to solve this or everyone would ask for his head. With a revolution for these reasons many years ago there was enough. Maybe the construction of new siege machines was pushed too much when it really wasn't necessary. It was clear that for a while there would be no battles and most likely the Horde would be in a similar situation, but their mentalities were completely different. The Alliance was always more inclined to peace and that each one made his life, more than half of the population gathering all races were civilians and didn't usually get involved in wars, they only wanted a family lifestyle. The Horde on the other hand were all warriors, they didn't mind working hard and not receiving much money in return if they guaranteed a good fight. Who wasn't a warrior contributed equally, their sense of honor was like that. If one was hit, everyone would jump. That was something Anduin could admire from them, that kind of determination wasn't very common in the Alliance and although they had a battle recently, while in the Horde everyone knew and contributed, a large part of the Alliance stayed on the sidelines, that's why they complained about this now.

Anduin accepted those differences, understood that not everyone was equal and, if he had been allowed to choose, perhaps he would have ignored the war as well. Unfortunately, he never had that privilege, no matter how much he wanted to lock himself in his room a thousand times and not go out for days, it wasn't something he could afford. He often wondered what a simple life would be like where his only concern was that he had to work more than usual.

Overwhelmed in his room doing paperwork, he decided to go out and eat something. The need to get distracted suddenly became a priority. Anduin had to make a ball and bury those intrusive thoughts, as always. If he kept reading those papers for a longer time he would end up consumed. It got pretty late so he would probably end up eating what others had left over and that discouraged him. When he entered the small kitchen, he saw Wrathion. The dragon was sitting eating a fruit while stirring coffee with a spoon. The dragon looked up at Anduin and nodded as if it was a greeting. Anduin smiled at him as he approached the marble, he saw that there was a large pot with stew waiting for him. It wasn't especially something that would fill him completely but it was the only food there. After filling a plate to the edges, he sat in front of Wrathion.

"I hope it still tastes good." said Anduin under his breath.

"I guess it's good."

"Didn't you eat it?"

"What I have now is my only food." Anduin looked surprised.

"Are you just going to eat that? It's not too much."

"It's enough, I don't eat much."

Anduin thought it was better not to say anything while he started eating. He believed that dragons used to have a lot of appetite in order to compensate for the magic they constantly use or simply for being large creatures. Wrathion was growing, it would be normal for him to need to eat a lot. In a sip, the dragon drank all that was left of coffee and began to eat that fruit faster.

"You know? You look very overwhelmed."

Anduin almost choked when Wrathion said that. He hadn't seen his face before leaving the bedroom and perhaps it was very obvious, he should hide it more if he wanted to look completely well. Anduin drank some water before answering.

"It's nothing, just a lot of paperwork."

"Interesting paperwork then." Anduin continued eating without saying anything. "If you want we can fight a little this afternoon." the king's eyes shone a little.

"Why do you want to fight too?"

"I want to see how you do it."

"Okay, we can fight for a while."

"After you've taken a nap."

"What?" Anduin looked at him in an almost offended way. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you need to be rested and energized. Besides, you can't fight without digesting, it’s called common sense."

"Well, okay, good point."

"Where could we go?"

"One of the forests nearby?"

"I wouldn't call a forest what we have here." Wrathion smiled. "A real forest would be as amazing as for example... the one in Grizzly Hills, that would be a good example." Anduin looked surprised.

"Have you been to Grizzly Hills?"

"Yes, some time ago."

"I've always been told it's one of the most beautiful places in Northrend."

"Arguably. But it's worth seeing."

"What does it look like?"

"Well," Anduin left the cutlery and paid special attention. "It's not something unique in Grizzly Hills really, it's more like Northrend as a whole. It's like another world, far from all the rules established in the rest of the continents. Not only because of the cultures and races they live there. The atmosphere, the colors in the sky with the endless northern light from dawn to dusk, is beautiful. Relationships between races and animals, animals and other animals, who survives and who doesn't, the law of the strongest prevails. There is no judgment, you know? Nobody imposes moralisms or norms. Simply... it's what it is, just as life should always be." Anduin had been totally enthralled with the explanation. It was a place so different from his that it only caught his attention, it was like when he visited Pandaria the first time.

"I'd love to see it..." Anduin looked down distracted.

"After the war, maybe you could take a few days off and visit it."

Anduin tried to smile, but it fell apart until he had a sad expression. He might never be able to go to the frozen continent, he had barely left the circle between city states of the Alliance. Only Pandaria was an exception and because his ship was shipwrecked. But how much he wanted to see such a place, even if it was something wild. Silence began to fall between them and no one knew what to say, Anduin's reaction had said too much to keep talking about it. The occasional noise of the cutlery while eating fast was the only thing that could be heard. The door opened and Genn entered smiling at Anduin.

"I don't know why, but I was sure I would find you here and you would be eating."

"Am I so obvious?" Genn sat next to Anduin. "Has something happened?"

"No, nothing happens. But I know there are certain problems in Stormwind, especially with money."

"I love the secrets that are known fast..." commented ironically.

"Muradin's letters also come to me, boy, that's why I was looking for you."

"We have problems. The war is taking all the money and it’s difficult to pay the workers. We're also consuming more resources than we can get."

"I understand, some cuts will have to be made, even if they're temporary. If we want to be ready for another assault we'll have to take action."

"I destroyed half the army and all the Horde machines for this?" Wrathion asked wryly. Both kings looked at him. "Just a small detail, I don't know why you think the Horde is in a better position, but I'm sure they're in a worse situation. I think you're being somewhat pessimistic."

"Why are you so sure?" Genn asked.

"Because I know how the Horde works and I know how Sylvanas does things. If they were well they would still be here, don't doubt it." Genn glanced at Anduin.

"Well," Anduin cleared his throat. "it's true that their presence has diminished and Wrathion destroyed many things. Maybe we're being dramatic."

"If you want to take it more calmly, in that case... Do you want me to handle it for a while for you?" Anduin finished the plate and looked at Genn happy.

"You would do me a favor."

Genn removed Anduin's hair affectionately and left the room. Anduin left what he had used in the sink along with many other plates and cutlery and stretched. He ended up accepting Wrathion's suggestion, would take a nap and then train for a while. They agreed that the dragon would pick him up in two hours.

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Anduin only yawned in complaint when Wrathion pulled him out of bed and dragged him around the room while laughing. The young king had to admit that he must move again, but he wouldn't have cared to be two more minutes warmer between sheets. Without anyone noticing, they left through the western part of Boralus. They didn't go too far. Between the small town of Vaderia and the Algerson Lumber Yard, they climbed a small mound where everything was calm. Now there were many more clouds than in the morning, sometimes the weather was very surprising. Anduin thought discouraged that maybe they wouldn't be there too long.

Wrathion carried two wooden sticks instead of using their usual weapons because he wanted to see how good Anduin was fighting. The young king didn't like the notion, Wrathion would realize that the young king was a bad fighter and didn't want to appear especially clumsy before him. Some laughed at Anduin's strange fighting technique behind his back and the young king took it to heart, especially because he had a certain condition that everyone used to ignore. When Wrathion threw one of the sticks, Anduin caught it in the air, it wasn't too heavy at least.

"Before we start." Anduin began. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you know who the Drust are?" Wrathion nodded. "Are they connected to N’Zoth?" Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?"

"I heard that in their land they usually torment their victims mentally, you told me N’Zoth has power over the mind, that's why I ask."

"As far as I know, they aren’t connected." Anduin blinked confused.

"Are you sure?"

"Sharing that means nothing. From what I know in history, they have never been connected, the Drust are independent."

"Okay..." Anduin was intrigued about Wrathion's knowledge about the Drust.

"Now. Let's see how you move."

Wrathion attacked so fast that Anduin couldn't even react. When the dragon hit Anduin's right arm slightly, the young king's stick fell. Anduin rubbed the sore area on his arm when he let out a groan. As soon as he took the stick again, Wrathion attacked without saying anything on the left, but Anduin could defend himself. The only thing Anduin did was defend himself, it was hard for him to keep up with Wrathion's fast pace. Some time ago, when he was recovering from his wounds in Pandaria, Wrathion helped him a little with stupid fights with sticks and the dragon was quite awkward too. Now Wrathion had a pretty good technique and very refined agility. Anduin could hardly attack, but he was far from giving up. Wrathion raised the stick and attacked from above, Anduin placed the stick horizontally and stopped him. The force that the dragon was applying was incredibly superior and he began to drag Anduin back. No matter how much force Anduin used, he couldn't counter him. Perhaps because he was a dragon, by nature, he was stronger. Wrathion suddenly stepped aside and with all the strength Anduin had been doing, the young king fell flat on his face to the ground.

"Don't do that." Anduin complained as he tried to recompose.

"This can happen in a real battle."

"I don't think I'm going to fight a dragon that quadruples my strength."

"I think I could beat you without using my strength too."

"How funny you are." when Anduin stood up, his legs shook enormously and he felt pain. Although he still had pains of battle in the valley, it was too early for him to feel that way, he had just begun fighting. He supposed that the force he used was more than he could afford. He took a deep breath and turned to prepare the defense. Wrathion stared at him as if he was worried.

"Are you okay? I have seen you tremble."

"I'm okay, it's because I fell."

Wrathion didn't look very satisfied with that poor excuse, but he continued. Although the pace was still high, Anduin could tell the dragon slowed down a little. The more minutes they spent fighting, the more Anduin's body resented. It wasn't only the legs that trembled, but also the arms. A stabbing pain ran through him from top to bottom and the focus was his right knee. Anduin tried to attack on the right side, but Wrathion stopped his stick with his hand and stood still, the young king, panting, looked at him frowning.

"What are you doing?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wrathion dropped the stick and Anduin backed away.

"Yes."

"You lie. I don't even know why you try to fool me."

"And why are you so sure?"

"Never lie to someone who is used to lying." Anduin had almost forgotten how he really was.

"I'm just tired."

"Bullshit, I see you shaking all the time and we haven't been fighting long enough. There must be some reason you haven't told me." Anduin looked at the grass. After sighing, Wrathion approached a little. "If there is anything I should know, better say it now. Otherwise I won't stop."

Anduin hesitated. Going on like this wouldn't end up being good for his body. Anduin looked to the sides as if looking for a way out while considering telling a truth only Velen and Genn knew. What if Wrathion laughed? Or worse, what if Wrathion took pity on him as if Anduin was a small child? That's what Genn had done when he knew it and the young king didn't like it too much, he didn't want special deals, but he couldn't go on like that either. With a sigh he looked determinedly at an expectant Wrathion.

"Do you remember the accident I had in Pandaria?"

"When Garrosh threw the divine bell on you? Yes, I remember it well. It was the reason we met later."

"Well..." Anduin crossed his fingers nervously. "It's just... Velen told me some time later that I was going to have... problems."

"What kind of problems?" Anduin sighed sadly.

"I can't fight well."

"Elaborate."

"The pain persists. It started as a discomfort in the knee, but it ended up spreading all over my body. When I'm very tired, or I make a lot of effort, even when I'm in a very bad mood, my whole body hurts. It limits me a lot so... I have never been able to fight well because of this."

"The Light couldn't totally heal you?"

"Light can heal and relieve but to some extent. There are things that have no solution, they're chronic."

Anduin lowered his head and stared at the grass. Velen told him this with sadness. Genn took pity on him and every time they trained he was very soft, as if he was afraid of breaking him. Anduin tried to explain this as if it was a muscle discomfort that came out every now and then when someone asked him why he never wanted to be a warrior. The vast majority always smiled and said it couldn't be so bad and what happened was that Anduin was a very bad warrior and that’s why he wanted to be a healer. Anduin never liked these comments, even without that injury, he has always been more interested in healing techniques. He was very angry that others tried to justify his lack of ability with something that wasn't true. He couldn't be like the rest and there was no solution. In the end, everyone made Anduin look at the ground while trying to hide his shame, as if they really convinced Anduin that he could do more and he was simply being useless, sometimes he felt that way.

"Why do you look embarrassed?"

"Eh?" When Anduin looked up, he found Wrathion with his head tilted to the side with the most confused expression he had seen in him. "I'm not."

"You are, I'm seeing you, you know? What is the problem?" Anduin frowned slightly.

"I... I can't meet certain expectations, maybe?" Wrathion burst into a big laugh.

"Who the fuck got that in your head?" Wrathion dried a small tear. "Did everyone tell you there is only one way to fight or what? Gods, if you can't use brute force, then you'll have to learn another way to fight that suits you better. Don't get stuck in a style." Anduin was surprised.

"But... I don't know-"

"Then learn."

"I have my limitations."

"And I have mine too. Or do you think everyone is perfect but you? Everyone has their limitations, what happens is that most people don't discover or admit them. They get stuck in a style and only realize their limit when they're killed in combat. That's why it's good to explore what you can and can't do. Anduin..." Wrathion sighed. "What happens to you sucks real bad, I understand, but all you have to do is change the way you do things to adapt to what suits you best... And I know one that will suit you, one I had to use back in my days."

"Back in your days?"

"I had certain problems, I was extremely physically ill, but I learned something that helped me. The truth is that I still use it today."

"What is it about?"

"You don't need to use brute force, it's just only taking advantage of certain pain points. Give me your hand."

With a little hesitation, Anduin raised his left hand. Wrathion placed it between his two hands and touched very gently the gaps between the knuckles. The young king realized that the dragon's hands were surprisingly warm, it became even cozy, until Wrathion pressed a certain area between his knuckles and moved his middle finger in a way that made him scream in pain. Anduin pulled away as he shook his aching hand.

"What the hell was that? By the Light, you have hurt me."

"I didn't use too much strength."

"And now I have to thank you for that?" Anduin looked at his hand, there was no mark.

"That's what I mean by pain points. I'll teach you immobilization techniques and how to hit key points of the body. It's something that will suit you, for now. It doesn't require special physical effort, you just need ingenuity, agility and a bit of improvisation."

"In a battle I don't know if it helps me to know how to immobilize someone."

"Surrounded perhaps not too much, but knowing where to hit is vital. Before, when we were fighting, you didn't really have much idea and went like crazy, you shouldn't. You can hit at certain body points and you won't get tired. Also, I want you to learn well to improvise."

"Why?"

"Because that will help you a lot against N’Zoth's controlled ones. He's unpredictable when it comes to moving, so... if you want to help me you have to learn, I don't want you to go blindly." Anduin was thoughtful, maybe he could use it to learn something new. "And one more thing. You don't have to meet any expectations, follow the path you want, even if you need to go slowly, there are no rules about it. Don't let yourself be influenced by assholes."

Anduin showed a small relieved smile. Deep down Wrathion was right. The young king let people influence him, thinking that he was useless when in reality he just had to adapt to what was best for him.

"I want to learn." said Anduin. "But you have to tell me exactly how N’Zoth fights."

"You have to know how to differentiate between him and the body he uses. The mind may be totally controlled by N’Zoth, but the body remains the same as always, with its limitations. If the body suffers, the concentration is lost. Hitting at key points or immobilizing usually causes him to lose concentration, leaving only desperate movements. That's when you realize the advantage you have, that's how you win. Regarding N’Zoth… Let's see, I don’t think Leo will be a very big problem, he’s a child and you should only worry about his Void techniques."

"Void? But Leo doesn't use it."

"Everyone can use the Void and everyone can use the Light if they learn, and if it's an old god who controls you, then..."

"Yes, of course... We must be careful."

"I can handle that by myself, I have some experience. Now, let's see that improvisation you may have, using only your hands. We’ll make a small game, if you manage to knock me down on the grass once, I'll invite you to the food you like best. Deal?" Anduin smiled.

"Consider yourself bested."

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The sun began to disappear through the mountains of Drustvar, the light of the sunset bathed the earth in orange pieces when it was possible to sneak through the gray clouds. Anduin was sitting and leaning on a tree taking a rest admiring the landscape. He had spent much of the afternoon practicing with Wrathion. Of the dozens of times he tried to knock him down, he failed all. Anduin came to think that it would be impossible to beat him, Wrathion had too much experience, but he had learned a lot. Anduin never knew that the shoulder area was so key to knocking a person down in less than a second without much force. Despite all the defeats, he didn't feel frustrated or angry. Apart from the experience, it was a very interesting challenge and he just wanted to practice more. Wrathion suddenly appeared behind the tree and offered him a small bottle of water that he looked for while sitting next to him.

"Thanks." Anduin drank half and offered the rest to Wrathion.

"Nice balance accuracy." Wrathion drank the rest. "That's what you should do."

"With what?"

"When using the powers of Light and Void, you should have that balance."

"I don't know if I can. When I try to use the shadows I feel terrible."

"Don't you think it's because you have the wrong idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"You grew up with people who explained to you every day that the Light is good and you must use it and pray for it. On the other hand, the Void is very bad and full of horrors and you should always fight against it."

"It's not like..." Anduin shut up and sighed. "Well, yes, it's true."

"Anduin, there is nothing, but absolutely nothing, in this world or beyond, that is only white or black."

"Do you mean that the Light can be something bad and the Void something good?"

"No, I mean that things can have different meanings depending on the way you look at them and aren't entirely what one believes. Think that for Sargeras, what the Pantheon did was an aberration, he always considered that what he did was salvation for all and whoever opposed him should die for not agreeing with him."

"Oh, so you agreed with him?"

"No, what he was doing was crazy. But whoever agreed with his point of view looked at him as if he was a hero. The same applies to the Light and the Void. If you become a Light believer, you'll want everyone to be like that, you would be blinded, to the point where you delete from the map who doesn't think like you. The Void in extremes makes you a psycho. You should find a serene point between the two and for that you have to change the way you see and perceive these powers, as if they were equal. You have to be neutral and don’t give more privilege to one."

"It's a little complicated."

"Nobody said it was easy."

Anduin took a deep breath. Thinking about summoning the power of the Void with a different point of view was crazy. He could admit that Wrathion was right. When he began studying the Light, he was told that it was the only way he should go, that the Void wouldn't bring him anything good. They told him so many times that Anduin ended up believing it. On the other hand, Alleria and the Ren’dorei could use the shadows with the same ease and without the repercussions that everyone warned him so much. Although Anduin didn't know someone who used both normally. Both powers were like cat and dog, everyone chose a side, but they never thought they could reach mutual use. In the end, was that the truth? Nothing is good or bad, does it only matter how you see things, and even with that idea, there were always more?

Anduin tried to concentrate by closing his eyes. In his hands he began to summon the shadows. His mind was very used to the Light and opposed some resistance. Anduin tried to continue convincing himself that he wasn't doing something bad. His thoughts began to cloud a little and he only noticed a pure darkness. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes harder as he tried not to lose concentration. He began to feel the shadows coming out of his fingers and small whispers going from one ear to another. It was impossible to understand them, but it could bristle anyone's hair. As soon as he felt a cold sweat he stopped.

"Shit..." Anduin said as he ran a hand over his forehead.

"You weren't doing bad, I think you have ended up overwhelmed there at the end."

"A little, I don't control it well." Wrathion grabbed the king's shoulders and moved him a little to massage comfortably. He wasn't an expert, but it was enough for Anduin to relax slightly.

"I've noticed you tense too much when you try to use the shadows. You should calm down a bit, otherwise you'll end up overwhelmed all the time. And leave the prejudices behind."

"I have no idea how to avoid it, it's the first time I try these things."

"Practice then. No one is born knowing everything, Anduin. Think of it this way, if Ren'dorei can, why shouldn't you?" Anduin turned around and looked at Wrathion.

"Can you think of any way to be calm?" The dragon thought for a moment.

"Use some happy memories you have, something that makes you happy and with what you're calm."

Maybe that could help. When he started using the Light, Velen gave him the same advice. Letting a happy memory fill you could calm your mind, so you would easily use these kinds of powers. Anduin tried to choose a good one. He didn't have many, all his life he had been from war to war and barely enjoyed small moments. But there was something that made him very happy back in the day, when his father came back. After some time apart and a little altercation with the black dragon Onyxia, Varian became the father figure he should have always been. It wasn't as if it always lasted, but Anduin remembered the emotion very well.

He tried again. Now he was doing a little better, he felt a little more relaxed. Although he once lost the thread of concentration, the whispers were farther away. He tried to have a more open mind about the Void, he had to think about it differently and not what he was taught. If he acted the same as when he used the Light, perhaps it would be enough. It was working more or less, the shadows slid down his hands quietly although it was hard. When he opened his eyes and saw it, he felt happy. A whisper began to stand out over his own thoughts and Anduin frowned. All the others were whispers with a very soft voice, but this one was very serious. He couldn't understand what the voice was saying but each time it was much closer and his hands began to shake uncontrollably. Then he heard something.

_Kill him._

Anduin stopped dead.

"What happened?" Wrathion asked curiously.

"I'm not sure…"

Although it wasn't something he was going to recognize before Wrathion, the voice scared him. The whispers were usually in another language and he never understood anything. Was it because he tried to force it? That was one of the coldest and emotionless voices he had ever heard in his life. Wrathion looked worried.

"If you want, it's better to try another day."

"I'm doing it much better, right?"

"Of course, you have lasted a lot, with practice you'll be able to do it perfectly." a drop of water fell on his nose, the rain started.

"We should go back."

Both young men ran while it rained more and more. Anduin kept thinking about what had happened. He couldn't let the whispers invade his mind so easily but he didn't feel strong enough to endure it, and he had no idea how to stop it. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask Alleria for advice, after all, she dealt with it every day so she would have much more experience. Before arriving at the Keep, Anduin took a small detour, he had a pending conversation with Genn but he didn't know where he was. Wrathion said he would look around for him. Anduin went first to the docks where the ship "Wind’s redemption" was, sometimes several things were controlled from there, unfortunately Genn wasn't there. The only one he found was Taelia talking to some soldiers. She saw him and ran to him.

"Anduin! You disappeared."

"I was doing stupid things." Anduin tried not to be uncomfortable. "Have you seen Genn by chance?"

"Genn? I thought he would be with you."

"No, I was training with a friend."

"Maybe he's in the Keep. Training you say? Didn't you do it just with Genn?"

"Normally yes, but this time it was a special occasion. Although I hope he doesn't take it to heart..."

"You two must have a good relationship."

"Well." Anduin smiled as he scratched his cheek with a finger. "He's like my guardian. He has helped and supported me a lot, I would say he is like a father to me."

"That's great. I hope with that training you have released stress well, otherwise, here I am." Anduin felt very uncomfortable again.

"It really won't be necessary."

"Anduin." Wrathion called as he approached. "I found Genn. He was in the keep since the beginning, there was no need to go around." although he looked friendly, suddenly Wrathion changed his attitude to something more serious.

"You're the black dragon they talk about so much, aren't you?" Taelia asked.

"True." commented Anduin. "You haven't been introduced. Taelia, this is Wrathion. Wrathion, this is Taelia."

"Nice to meet you." Wrathion said nothing, looked at Taelia with a doubtful expression. "Well guys, I have to go back. See you around."

"See you another time." When Taelia left, Wrathion seemed intrigued. "Wrathion?"

"That girl... what was her name?"

"You really haven't heard me? Taelia, Taelia Fordragon." Wrathion looked at Anduin.

"Fordragon?" Wrathion was thoughtful. "Fordragon..." muttered the last name, Anduin sighed.

"Maybe it reminds you of Bolvar Fordragon."

"Ah." Wrathion seemed to realize. "Is she really Bolvar's daughter?

"Yes, why so much interest?"

"For nothing, that name was familiar to me and I didn't realize it."

"I’m going to the Keep before I get completely soaked, are you coming?"

"Go right ahead, I'll catch you later."

Anduin tried to hurry by running under all the possible covered areas without much success, he ended up soaked anyway.

Wrathion had stayed in the same place. Something that at first was a hunch, now proved that he was right. Following Taelia was quite simple, she didn't move too much from the place. At first she was at a bar having drinks with what looked like coworkers and then headed to the harbor office to meet Cyrus. Before Taelia entered, she turned around feeling she was being followed, but seeing no one, she frowned and entered. Wrathion wasn't far. From one of the rooftops he could see what he had been looking for.

He was being so obvious that it hurt him, maybe too confident. A wide smile covered Wrathion's face.

"You're losing your touch, N’Zoth."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware N'Zoth


	14. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one... I had many problems translating this one, in the end I just gave up and leave it like this. Sorry for mistakes

The staff and some salaries were reduced successfully. Anduin and Genn spent two whole days sitting and discussing how they should leave the small economic well in which they got into. Now it seemed to start going well. In military terms, they didn't touch anything, that wouldn't change. The church took a hit. The priests didn't like it, they wanted to continue preaching the Light in difficult times, but Anduin was convincing enough to make them see the reality of the war. In the end, they reduced the complaints. The Stormwind crown and the noble class took almost all the cuts, it wasn't something in which they hesitated much when deciding. The nobles were more understanding than they expected. After so many wars, everyone understood the first thing a good king would cut would be this. The crown and the nobles losing money wasn't something Anduin cared about too much. Muradin's letters were good, people started to calm down, for now.

After two days insolated, Anduin went free to sunbathe. When he moved to Kul Tiras, he thought the monotony of being in Stormwind between four walls had ended, but he didn't feel too different here. Only the room was new, the stress was the same. The only times he noticed a difference was only when he practiced using the shadows alone or spoke with Wrathion. Now he spent a few busy days since they both went out to practice, but occasionally played Jihui and talked during meals. He had to admit that Wrathion was a bit absent, he had made several exits only the Light knows where.

That noon, Anduin invited someone. Although it had been a little difficult, he finally located Calia and invited her to eat. Since Jaina told him about her little incident with Gorak Tul, Anduin was very intrigued for the Drust. Not only was a race with the potential to be an enemy, it was also the small hunch that N’Zoth might be involved. Jaina was the Lord Admiral now, being a target of a dangerous race didn't make Anduin particularly happy.

Anduin received Calia with a smile. After a while, she looked great, she didn't have a sign of exhaustion, unlike him. The king led her to the kitchens and invited her to stay for lunch to chat. Calia was somewhat involved in the fall of the coven in Drustvar. Those witches, apart from the fire, didn't like the power of the Light too much and she was very helpful. She became quite friendly with Lucille and was invited to join Order of Embers, but Calia had all the loyalty in the church so she stayed as a special guest while helping against the Drust.

"The curious thing about the Drust," Calia said after a drink of water. "is that they cannot use their power one hundred percent, they were blocked."

"What do you mean?" Anduin asked curiously.

"It was clear that they didn't belong to 'this side' and all their power was retained somewhere."

"I heard they have their own land, it will have to do with it, I guess."

"In the Blighted Lands resides all power, yes. It was this particular place that I was investigating. I found strange things."

"Like what?"

"It seems that it has its origin in a plane of reality, the Emerald Dream specifically."

"The Emerald Dream? I thought that reality was a thing of the green dragons and druids, it has to do with a spiritual world and dreams, how can the Drust have roots there?"

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn’t say everything was created there. But what I found is that it also has many connections with what comes to be... the bad part?" Anduin frowned.

"Are you talking about the Emerald Nightmare?"

"Exactly. It's a little strange, I know, but it's what I found. It looks like their power is more from the Nightmare than the Dream, that must be admitted."

"Let's see if I have understood, does the power of the Drust come from a mixture between the Emerald Dream and the Emerald Nightmare at the same time?"

"Something like that. I don't know how they connected exactly, but I would say they stole or copied it."

"Is it possible?" Anduin scratched his head confused. For many days, all the things people had explained to him were threatening what was established in his mind. "I wish I had a green dragon around here."

"Maybe not a green dragon, but any druid who travels to the Emerald Dream maybe can clarify something, I don't have much idea about this topic. Malfurion could be a good option."

Anduin nodded slowly. It wasn't as if Malfurion and he had a very close relationship, they exchanged some words for courtesy and some spontaneous conversation when the chaos began, beyond that they never spoke personally. But one realization occupied his thoughts. While the Burning Legion attacked last year, there were problems in the Emerald Nightmare. The reports told back then that the Nightmare Lord, Xavius, unleashed the power of the Nightmare, but he was defeated. The threat disappeared but at a high cost, the ex-aspect Ysera lost her life, but the Emerald Nightmare would never bother again. But now that Anduin heard this, he couldn't help thinking about something. If the Drust had the same power as always, that meant the Emerald Nightmare continued to emanate power.

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"Don't you think it's strange?" Anduin asked confused. Wrathion sighed tired.

"Why so much interest in it?"

"I thought you'd like to know, it's the Emerald Nightmare after all. Xavius worked under Azshara’s orders who, if I remember well, is under N’Zoth's control."

"Anduin, stop thinking N’Zoth and the Drust work together."

The king frowned at Wrathion's refusal. In the afternoon, they went to the same place they trained last time after a few days. Anduin had been trying to knock the dragon down at least once without much success. When Anduin tried to tell Wrathion about what Calia told him, the dragon looked tired, as if he was indifferent. The truth was that Wrathion had some mishaps with people in Boralus. Anduin still had complaints about aggressions on the table. Wrathion had been fighting through the harbor and, because it was known the young king made a deal with the dragon, everyone believed Wrathion was part of the Alliance and Anduin had to answer for the dragon. When Anduin asked him last night, Wrathion simply shrugged as he murmured things, he didn't say why.

"Okay, smartass," Anduin began leaving the attack posture. "then how do you explain that they have similar powers." Wrathion sighed as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Long, long time ago, when nature-" Anduin ran towards Wrathion and covered his mouth with his hands while holding back the laughter.

"Go straight to the point." Wrathion stepped back and smiled.

"The world tree Vordrassil was planted very close to where Yogg-Saron was. As you may know, these trees are connected to the Emerald Dream. Yogg-Saron corrupted it because the tree never had the blessing of the aspects, so the Cenarion Circle had no choice but to cut it down. However, they didn’t know until years later that Yogg-Saron planted the 'seeds' that created the Emerald Nightmare."

"So Yogg-Saron owns the Emerald Nightmare?"

"Yes and no, he just created it and left it as a very dark place. N’Zoth arrived later and filled it with power, those horrible things come from N'Zoth." before Anduin said something, Wrathion saw it coming. "But the Drust don't come from the Emerald Nightmare, their place isn't that, they have their own kingdom. Surely they copied the powers from the Emerald Dream and Nightmare and created an annex. Actually... it wouldn't be the first time someone copied powers." Anduin swore that Wrathion said it annoyed, but decided to ignore it.

"How do you know these things?"

"Uh?"

"I mean, it's not something that is written somewhere, and you certainly haven't lived so long... How do you do it?"

"Studying?"

"From where? I'd be interested to know." Wrathion denied with his arms as he backed away a little.

"Better get back to what we were doing."

"But I'm interested in this. Also, if the Drust copied that power, they copied N’Zoth, couldn't they have talked about it?"

"Anduin, for the last time." Wrathion had an angry tone. "If they were connected I would know in advance, she would have told me." Anduin blinked confused.

"She?" Wrathion's expression suddenly changed, as if he had spoken too much.

"Shit... _Nid fent tinv’aak_."

Although it was nothing more than a complaint, Anduin heard it perfectly. Never before he paid attention to the pronunciation in Draconic, Wrathion never got to use it during his stay in Pandaria. Unlike all the languages Anduin had heard, the sentence came almost from Wrathion's chest instead of the top of his throat, like all beings in Azeroth when speaking. It was the weirdest way to pronounce Anduin had heard.

Wrathion lay on the grass face down with his hands on his forehead. Anduin smiled at the reaction, it was as if he was pouting. The young king sat aside, placed his index finger on the center of the dragon's back and squeezed a little.

"This counts as I’ve won." Wrathion glanced at him.

"You wish!"

"Who is she?" Wrathion looked to the other side but Anduin moved quickly to confront him. "Who?"

"I can't."

"Is anyone else involved besides you and me?" Wrathion hid his face in his hands. "Oh, come on, tell me."

"No." if Anduin remembered correctly, he began to tickle Wrathion's sides. The dragon tried to run away. "Don't use that against me."

"I see it still has an effect. Why don't you want to tell me?"

"Have you ever had a secret you can’t tell anyone? One you can't tell for loyalty?" Anduin frowned.

"Since when are you loyal to someone? You always went on your own."

"And I'm still on my own, it's just... she helped me get started with this."

"And this girl put you up to date on N’Zoth?"

"I shouldn't be saying this." Wrathion started tearing the grass nervously.

"But I'm not going to tell anyone. When I think you have told me something important I only discover that you hide other things from me, like this now, or you haven't told me who in Zandalar is possessed, or what you did in Uldum, or tell me why you have been getting in trouble around Boralus... Don't you trust me after all?"

Wrathion sighed as he rubbed his eyes with one hand. After a few moments of deliberation, he rolled through the grass until he reached Anduin and rummaged through a small bag that was always tied around his waist. He pulled out a worn drawing that he left on Anduin's leg. The young king looked at it curiously, the drawing was a circle with a fat flagpole on top, inside the circle there were a lot of meaningless lines.

"She asked me to look for this around the world because N’Zoth had lost it." said Wrathion.

"And what does it mean?"

"I don't know what it is." Anduin frowned.

"And why does she send you to look for it? Didn't she tell you what it is?"

"I just know N’Zoth doesn't want me to have this and that's enough reason to try to find them. Before, he had them controlled, but someone distributed them. She had this one, that's why I have it."

"There is more?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Wrathion took out another.

"This is what I found in Uldum, it was the reason I went there." when Anduin examined it, he thought they looked the same.

"But they're exactly the same." Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the arm and made him lie with him. The dragon placed the two drawings against the sun, although one of them with the flagpole looking down, and some lines began to shine with the same intensity as the sun. In each drawing it was different.

"It's not the same."

"Wow... What does all this mean?"

"If I had them all, I could put them together and see what it says, meanwhile it will be a mystery. But I do know that if N’Zoth wants to hide it, it’s because it says something important."

"Where are the rest?"

"One must probably be in N’Zoth's hands. And the last one I have no idea. And yes, there are four, one for each cardinal point."

"And you won't tell me who she is?"

"No, I can't, it doesn't depend on me." they both looked at each other and Anduin pouted. "Maybe if things get very complicated... Please, I really can't betray a trust like that, I promised."

"I accept if you tell me who the other possessed is." Wrathion laughed. While he got up, he put the drawings back in the bag.

"I found out who is the other under N'Zoth's control in Boralus." Anduin jumped up.

"Seriously? Who?" Wrathion smiled at him defiantly.

"If you beat me I tell you."

"You're kidding? Come on! Tell me."

"Earn the knowledge... if you can."

Wrathion gestured with his finger defiantly. It was clear that he only did it for fun and for giving Anduin an incentive. However, for Anduin that revelation was too important to have to 'win it' in a fight, especially because the young king knew he couldn't really beat Wrathion. Anduin got up and they both moved slowly in a circle. The dragon gesture to indicate Anduin to stare at him. Many times Wrathion had told him about the distractions and taking advantage of it, but Anduin never managed to fool the dragon, the young king always used to be somewhat obvious. Anduin pretended to attack on the right just to change direction in the last second. Although he hit the dragon's ribs, he didn't flinch. Wrathion tangled his arm with the king's to immobilize him and Anduin found himself without many options. The king tried to hit in the neck area to try to knock him down but Wrathion stepped forward and with his own weight pushed. Anduin ended up tripping and Wrathion won once again.

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Anduin was very upset. He was taking a hot shower to relax his muscles after all the defeats today. The defeats didn't bother him, it was the fact that Wrathion didn't tell him who was under N'Zoth's control in Boralus or the one in Zandalar. He could understand at first that Wrathion told him that to encourage him, just like when he told him he would invite him to his favorite food and, although Anduin lost all fights, Wrathion ended up inviting him anyway. But this time the dragon didn't say a word. Lately Anduin found Wrathion's attitude annoying. Wrathion had been very calm at first and it looked like he was changed in such a way that he was a little softer and kind. The reality was he became even more closed than before. The dragon hardly says anything he really thinks and always seemed to be very uncomfortable when talking to people. Although on the other hand Anduin began to understand one thing. Wrathion wasn't welcome here and that could create some animosity. Apart from the king, no other person really engaged in conversation with him. Being a descendant of Deathwing brought him nothing good, everyone knew that there was a black dragon in Boralus. Although Wrathion didn't tell him why he sometimes fought, the young king began to consider it may be a reason. If that was the case, he should try to make him feel more welcome. Wrathion being a black dragon had never been a problem for Anduin, he never cared to deal with one race or another and Wrathion always caused him intrigue, but he hoped the dragon could feel the same way with him.

Anduin found Alleria after a while looking for her. She was in the ship 'Wind's redemption' on the table where Halford used to be. With him still in treatment, it was Alleria who was in charge of handling things temporarily. The night fell on Kul Tiras, many people began to retire for dinner and rest, Anduin thought it would be the best time to talk. He didn't know exactly how to talk to her. Even if the Ren’dorei had been in the Alliance for a while now, it wasn’t as if Anduin had chatted freely with any of them, not even Alleria. He largely blamed himself for distrust them just because they use the Void and now felt very ignorant about it. The truth was that they just needed understanding. The Ren’dorei were part of the Alliance now and he had to understand their world no matter how 'dark' it looked.   
Alleria greeted him by raising a hand, it was obvious that she was resting and without any plan. Anduin asked her for a moment to speak and they sat quietly on the stairs leading to the helm. At that time there was no one on deck and only the waves could be heard crashing into the wood of the ship.

"I hope it is not too much of a headache to replace Halford." Anduin tried to start.

"I handle myself well, although if he returns soon I won't be sad." both smiled. "Will he recover soon?"

"Surely, in a few days he will come back." Anduin began to feel the awkward silence falling between them.

"I guess Tyrande won't come back that fast."

"I don't think so, she only woke up once but I think she will recover well with time." the silence returned to them and Anduin felt it was best to get to the point. "There is one thing I would like to ask you."

"Of course, tell me."

"You are part of the Void, how do you avoid the whispers?" Alleria looked at the young king somewhat confused. Probably the sudden change of subject caught her by surprise.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I have realized that I hardly know anything about you, really, I don't even know how you deal with it and it seems quite complicated. I'm curious." although Alleria initially had a dubious expression, it ended up softening. She looked glad to speak about this.

"It was not easy. The Void is what it is and will not change, it will try to make you fall in madness always through whispers."

"You hear them, don't you?"

"I do."

"And is there any way to avoid it or do you just have to deal with it?"

"There is no way to avoid whispers, they will always be there. What we must learn is to ignore them, no matter what you are doing in your day to day, the whispers will be there. You need autosuggestion for this."

"So what you do is ignore it, no matter what they say? I guess they will tell you very strange things."

"Whispers will always tell you to do something that is considered morally bad. They usually become more insistent if you have someone you care about since you would obviously get more affected, you would go mad faster. It's all a matter of practice after all. We treat the Void with respect and as if it was an equal."

"With respect... it's not really a place considered good, I mean, no offense."

"Of course it is not really a good place, but if you don't take seriously the powers that emanate from there and you are not aware of what might happen to you, you can never use it for your own benefit and take advantage of it. It is not very different from the Light in reality, the only difference is that if you use the Light unconsciously it won't kill you. The Void on the other hand, if you use it unconsciously, it can harm you."

"I start to get an idea. But for example, using the Void would be different for a human who uses the shadows. I mean, you are one with the Void, you can get power more easily."

"If I had to use an analogy... Let's say we are the water and a human would become a tap that channels the water. We use it entirely and only deal with whispers. A human who uses it has a bigger risk of going crazy because they cannot use it or control it entirely and depend a little on being crazy to get to the peak."

"So... Should a human be crazy to use it entirely?"

"No, you cannot use it entirely, they should be one with the Void for that. But you can keep control if you don't abuse the shadows and you have faith in what you do, you know, self confidence. An anchor would also be good for anyone who isn't a Ren’dorei."

"What is that?"

"A reason to maintain sanity. It could be something like defending a loved one, being able to return to your family, saving someone... Apart from one's own faith, having personal reasons that push you to get ahead and not fall into madness can help."

Anduin started to understand better. He had the wrong idea from the beginning and hadn't respect the Void as it deserved. Perhaps the Void was a morally questionable place, but it was a source of power as well, the young king had underestimated it altogether.

Alleria looked delighted to share this wisdom. It didn't seem that anyone had asked her about the Void outside the Ren’dorei. Anduin thought that even if they were part of the Alliance, the Ren’dorei were still a bit isolated. He didn't think anyone asked them questions about the Void or how they resisted it and thought that maybe he should try to integrate them further.

The streets were quite empty when Anduin returned to the Keep, he thought everyone would be having dinner already. He was hungry too. That night, Mia promised to cook his favorite dish, swirling mist soup, a Pandaren recipe he was still in love with. Several dogs and cats ran past him and looked very happy. Anduin stopped to pet a small dog that was limping for having an injured front leg. Another dog approached and insisted to follow him, Anduin found that behavior curious. Although he was very hungry and had to meet the Greymane for dinner as usual, he followed them. A few animals congregated in a corner where it was obvious no one passed by, except those animals and Wrathion. Anduin was hidden and surprised while wondering what Wrathion was doing there. It was true the dragon used to disappear at night, but this wasn't something he imagined. Abandoned cats and dogs were around him, some even climbing up his body, while Wrathion gave them food one by one. Anduin frowned, from all the time he had known him, he never saw that Wrathion was altruistic, he never gave anything to a being. But now he was sitting there with the most serene expression he had seen in him while giving food. Was Anduin never going to know him well at all? Or did Wrathion really change so much in three years? What else could hide? Anduin had to admit that it was kind of cute to see him like that.

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The next morning, Anduin could admit he had mastered it. When he went to bed last night, he tried to practice for a while and it went quite well, he didn't lose control for a moment. Some time ago, Velen told him he had talent in this field of mastering the primal power of existence. Obviously at that time Anduin didn't believe it too much and thought it was luck, however, now he began to think seriously that he was very good at it. The young king opened his mind more than usual, treated the Void as an equal and it worked out well. Although the whispers persisted, he could ignore them. And when it was time to sleep he had no strange dreams. The only bad thing was that, upon leaving his room, Katherine announced that she once again received a new complaint from a guard for another Wrathion aggression at dawn. Anduin felt exhausted, in a few days he had received too many complaints about him, perhaps he should have taken him with him to avoid it. Katherine wasn't happy at all with that behavior and since Wrathion wasn't part of the Alliance, she warned him that, if the complaints continued, she would eventually expel the dragon from Boralus. Anduin had to accept that, he wasn't ruler of Kul Tiras and he really couldn't oppose it. Wrathion was only there because the king had wanted it, no matter how much their deal ended. As soon as he saw the dragon reading on a bench, Anduin took and forced him to don't separate. Even if the young king tried to ask, Wrathion said nothing. Anduin believed that Wrathion's attitude would end up despairing him at some point, or worse, in the end he discovers the dragon was only using him to prove something against N’Zoth and nothing else. Despite his doubts about the reasons Wrathion could have, he wouldn’t lose sight of him, he invited him to eat with him every day from now on. It wasn't something Wrathion expected and the idea that he would probably be sharing meals with the Greymane family wasn't something that made him especially excited. But Wrathion accepted.

There were some awkward silences during the meal, only Anduin and Mia acted normal. It wasn't as if having Wrathion there was nice to them, but the young king began to understand why he used to be alone.

"Anduin," Mia called. "you don't need to eat so desperate, nobody is going to take away your food."

"Mmmhm." Anduin tried to answer. Mia gave him an intense glare and hedrank some water. "Sorry. I said I'm hungry."

"Have you ever been satisfied after a meal?" Tess asked, Anduin shrugged in response. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Genn and Mia laughed a little. Wrathion seemed completely out of place and absent, he had barely touched the food. In a moment of pure silence, the door opened and Dereck burst into the room. At first he was going to eat with them but Mathias sent him on a small mission in the morning and although they tried to wait for him the mission took more hours than planned.

"Look, the missing one." Tess joked. "We wanted to wait for you but Anduin insisted that he wanted to eat and-"

"What do you mean with 'Anduin insisted on eating'?" interrupted the young king indignant.

"People," started Dereck raising his voice a little. "you won't believe what has happened."

"Huy, come here." Tess pointed to the chair next to her. When Dereck sat down, he drank a glass of water.

"Alright. Do you remember that in Zuldazar there were rebels against the king?" all nodded. "Well, it turns out that the main traitor is the prophet Zul!"

"What?" they all said in amazement.

"And not only that. Zul is one of the leaders of the well-known blood trolls and stabbed King Rastakhan, he could die in a few hours, the Zandalari could be left without a king!"

"WHAT?" now everyone had raised their voices. Wrathion, who looked indifferent to the conversation, looked sideways at Dereck.

"Okay, boy." Genn cleared his throat. "Start detailing what you know."

"Well... Just that. Mathias sent us to confirm what happened. Zul and the blood trolls are traitors, although we think they serve someone more powerful, but that’s only a theory. With the help of a C'Thraxxi, which I don't know where it came from, they attacked the city and destroyed something. Zul stabbed the king then. If Rastakhan ends up dying, Talanji will take his place. That affects their relationship with the Horde... Because it was Talanji who wanted to ally with the Horde, Rastakhan was skeptical."

"That would make them to be more united, especially with such a betrayal..." Anduin said while finishing his food. "I know little about these blood trolls, I have only read some creepy things about their practices with blood and that they congregate in Nazmir."

"It's normal that you don't know much." Tess said. "No one wants to go to Nazmir, they're scared of the place and some have been mutilated or killed. It's the blood trolls stronghold, so no one wants to approach. I had also heard that they work for a kind of deity."

"G’huun." Wrathion said drawing everyone's attention. "Their god's name is G’huun.

"What do you know about G'huun?" Anduin asked.

"That demands blood sacrifices." Wrathion smiled wryly and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Outside, I need air."

"I'm going with you."

Wrathion made no complaint while Anduin stood up. The others were somewhat surprised at Anduin's decision to leave now. Genn looked at him frowning as the young king walked away. Before opening the door, the old wolf's voice rumbled in the room.

"Anduin Llane Wrynn." the young king stopped dead. When he turned around to look at Genn, he put a hand to his heart and put on a sore expression.

"It hurts when you call me like that."

"We're discussing something important."

"Dereck, apart from that information, do you have anything else?" Dereck shook his head. "We would need more if we wanted to move. For now it's a betrayal between Zandalaris, if we can take advantage or not it's something we cannot decide now. I'm not going to decide blindly again. Don't look at me like that, I'll be back." as soon as Anduin closed the door, Genn sighed.

"I begin to think this black dragon is a bad influence."

"Let him breathe fresh air for a while." Mia said. "It's not something he can do often."

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They went to the usual place. Anduin had his reasons for being with Wrathion now. On the one hand, be sure that he won't get into trouble. On the other, he had to talk to him more thoroughly. Besides, that day was special, Anduin wanted to show him that he could control the shadows and it wasn't something the young king could exhibit if there were people nearby.

"I want to show you something." Anduin said, raising his hands.

"Okay."

"But you have to look, huh." Wrathion raised his shoulders as he smiled.

"I'm looking at you."

Anduin closed his eyes and concentrated. From his hands the shadows emanated in a serene way and were under control. Compared to the last time they met and tried, Anduin had gone from shaking uncontrollably to barely using effort. Anduin opened his eyes when he began to hear the whispers. It wasn't as if it bothered him too much, it was disturbing to hear voices of course, but he began to ignore it much better. Sometimes Anduin saw certain shadows around, something he knew perfectly well that it wasn't truly there. As soon as he stopped, he looked at Wrathion smiling.

"See? I can control it now."

"I'm glad you control it already."

Anduin's smile faded. It had been a big personal achievement for him to control something like that in such a short time, but Wrathion didn't seem impressed. Something showed Anduin in his expression, because Wrathion totally changed his attitude and smiled at him.

"I'm happy for you, I already knew you would end up controlling it, you've always had affinity for these things. So I knew it." Anduin half smiled, it wasn't something that had convinced him at all.

"Thanks."

"Now it's just a matter of combining it with the Light."

"I still can't do that."

"You'll do it."

Both remained silent. Anduin had already tried to mix both powers but they constantly repelled, he thought it was impossible. He understood the logic of using fire against fire. What N’Zoth used to possess was a Void parasite, so Anduin had to use the Void itself to take it out and then using the Light to purge it, but it was more complex than it looked like.

"What do you think of what happened in Zuldazar?" Wrathion frowned.

"It looks like they have a very big problem."

"What you don't look like is surprised." Wrathion laughed a little.

"No, I'm not. Zul being a traitor doesn't surprise me."

"Does N’Zoth have anything to do with this?"

"Maybe."

"And you're going to keep the secret for yourself, right?"

"Maybe it's you who should make a confession first." Anduin frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you insist on being with me now? I don't think it's because you love my company precisely."

"I don't...” Anduin sighed, obviously he had noticed. "You know? Katherine wants to kick you out for causing altercations out there, she gets tired of the complaints."

"Oh, so you want to be by my side to make sure I don't cause problems."

"If you stopped getting into trouble, maybe I wouldn't have to. And if they expel you from here, remember that N’Zoth would be roaming around." Wrathion took a few steps towards Anduin.

"It doesn't matter if they expel me, I would be here anyway. I would go to places and kill these controlled people and continue with the mission. It wouldn't be the first time I have to do it alone."

"Oh, very nice, so you sneak into places and kill someone without giving an explanation, fine. Congratulations, now, apart from being expelled, a nation has you as a criminal. Don't you think it's a very bad idea?"

"I'm not part of them, or anyone else. I don't care if they have me as a criminal, if they think they can catch me..."

"Wrathion, that's not the point. Don't you think it's better to have someone who can help you? If you let me, I would help you with the mission. I could be your companion." Wrathion laughed again.

"Where did you get that sentence? A teenage drama novel?"

"It doesn't matter if you make fun, I also need you for this threat."

"No, you think it's like that, because that's what they taught you to think. 'We all need someone'. That's bullshit. You're the only thing you need, you're the only one who can help you and the only one you have. Don't depend on me for this, don’t depend on anyone." Anduin took a step, staying several inches away from Wrathion, when he spoke, it was just a whisper.

"I think you have an extremely pessimistic idea of people in general, you shouldn't go around with that mentality." Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"It prepares me for the worst face of reality, it has never failed me."

When Wrathion finished the sentence, Anduin hit the dragon's left shoulder with one hand, and with the other, the lower part of his neck to knock him down. It looked like he caught Wrathion by surprise at first, but the dragon stood firm on the site. Wrathion placed a hand on Anduin's ribs and placed his forearm on his chest so Anduin wouldn't pull him back. If there was something Anduin didn't see, it was Wrathion tripping him on his right leg. The young king staggered, totally losing his balance. Before falling, he grabbed Wrathion's scarf to make him fall with him. Wrathion cushioned the fall a bit as usual by grabbing Anduin's shirt before touching the ground, but this time he remained on him.

"And I never let my guard down." Wrathion smiled faintly and leaned a little towards Anduin. "Your distraction tactic wasn't bad." he added, lowering his voice. "But with me it will be a little more difficult."

Although it was true Anduin had tried to distract him, everything he said was true. Wrathion offered his hand to pull him up. Anduin stretched his arms and his shoulder creaked.

"Do you want me to tell you on what you fail all the time?" Wrathion asked, Anduin looked angry.

"If there was something I was doing wrong since the beginning, you should tell me before."

"I hoped at some point you would notice. Anyway, the problem is your weight."

"Hey. "Anduin raised his eyebrows. "Did you just call me fat?"

"What?" Wrathion laughed. "I didn't mean it that way. I say you distribute your weight badly. You put all the weight in your left leg, haven't you noticed I always win the same way every time?" Anduin was thoughtful. Until Wrathion mentioned it now, he hadn't noticed the dragon used to win the same way. "It's as if by putting a plank you only put a screw on the left side, the right side obviously keeps falling because it's missing the screw. If you distribute the weight on both legs, it'll be more difficult to knock you down."

"But in the right leg I-"

"Your injury, I know. I know you have the focus there, but I'm not telling you to force anything. Look, a demonstration. "Wrathion approached Anduin and put his right arm around Anduin's waist. "It's as easy as doing this to you." the dragon put his leg behind Anduin's right leg and pulled him to fall on his back. Anduin didn't touch the grass because Wrathion had grabbed him by the waist. "I think you have an inner fear of hurting yourself there, that prevents you from doing things right. You know what? Maybe you discover it isn’t a big deal in the end."

Anduin tilted his head. It's true that since he had the accident he had to take it easy. It's true that he always supported all the weight on his left leg because he was sure that if he forced a lot, he would hurt his knee again. He got used to doing it too because others suggested him not putting weight on it too much. Anduin recomposed himself and focused. If his weakness had been that, he could fix it.

The dragon made him a gesture of stay put, Anduin understood that he expected him to do it. He had to try, although now that the young king realized, he could notice that he had to force himself a little to distribute the weight. Wrathion stepped forward and grabbed Anduin's wrist to attract him and placed his other arm diagonally on the king's chest. Anduin resisted trying to hit a key point on the dragon's shoulder. They struggled a little when Wrathion tried to knock him across the leg, but Anduin had distributed his weight well and only separated. The dragon gave him a small smile and tried to attack again. Anduin dodged the hits well, although some were impossible, but this time he was too determined. In what seemed like a desperate act, it was actually unexpected. Anduin tackled Wrathion and tried to knock him down using his legs. The dragon had been immovable in all this time, but this time he stepped back and tried to get Anduin off of him but, for no apparent reason, he suddenly stopped. Anduin realized that quite late and, because of the strength he put into it, both fell on the grass and Anduin was on top of the dragon.

The young king looked at him confused at first, as if he didn't know what had happened, but then changed to an expression of surprise.

"I won..." Anduin hit Wrathion's chest softly. "Ha! I won!" the young king got up and raised his arms victoriously to a non-existent audience. "No one saw that, but I won!" When Anduin turned around, he saw that Wrathion was still on the grass looking at the sky. He suddenly lowered his arms when he realized something. "You've let me win, right?" Wrathion moved his head a little to the opposite side, it was obvious that he let Anduin win. The young king sighed and sat next to him. "You love giving false hopes, I suppose."

"Anduin." Wrathion's voice sounded very serious. "Taelia is under N’Zoth's control." maybe Anduin hadn't heard correctly, he blinked confused and took a second to meditate.

"Excuse me? I think I haven’t understood you."

"The person who is possessed in Boralus, is Taelia. As soon as I was close to her, it was impossible for me to not notice it." Anduin's jaw almost touched the grass.

"How? Why? How is it possible? How long have you known?" Anduin tried not to sound indignant.

"A few days." Wrathion sat in front of him. "I have no idea how it happened, do you know if she had any kind of trauma?"

"Of course not! As far as I know she had a very normal life here. When I met her I didn't see anything strange in her, nor she said anything suspicious. I don't understand, are you completely sure?"

"I am, are you sure she never did anything weird?" Anduin began to hesitate.

"I think not... When I met her, she looked very normal and..." the king covered his mouth with his hand and reflected. "Well, now that I think about it... yes, something weird happened."

"What happened?"

"Suddenly, one day she looked as if she was sick. I asked her but she insisted she was fine. Apart from that, she recently told me..." Anduin stopped dead and looked scared. "By the Light, IT CANNOT BE."

"What?"

"If it's N’Zoth who was there... No way, an old god offered me sex!?"

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, he did! It was strange to me when she told me, it wasn't as if we knew each other very much to offer me something like that. That was very strange, but if it was N'Zoth all along..."

"You accepted?" far from sounding like he was joking, Wrathion sounded very worried.

"Of course not! Are you crazy? Why would I do that? I almost ran away... And why would N’Zoth want to do that?"

"Oh no... No, no, no... I don't like this."

Wrathion got up and started walking in a small circle as he put his hands to his head. Anduin imagined he was going to laugh a little about it, but Wrathion looked so worried that he began to feel uncomfortable. Perhaps that suggestion Taelia had made, or rather N’Zoth, didn’t bring anything good.

"Something wrong?" Wrathion still didn't look at him.

"I knew I shouldn't get you into this... And why was he going to...? He knows? No, he cannot know that, it's impossible that he has seen it. Shit... _Ruth faessi, dreh aesthyr ji-ri_..."

"Hey." Wrathion turned around. "What's up?"

"N’Zoth wants something from you." Anduin felt a certain fear when he heard that. "Or he wants to know something about you, or he wants to know something through you, or maybe he wants to convince you to do something, I don't know. N’Zoth never does something for fun or to bother you a little, he always has a reason."

"Why me...?" Wrathion reflected.

"Did he say something else out of place?"

"No, the times we talked just asked me very basic questions."

"Describe basic." Anduin could notice some nervousness in his voice.

"Well, the kind how am I doing, how do I carry all this, if I set myself well here and how I get along with the others...Questions that were normal to me..."

"Then he's going personal..." Wrathion pondered a moment. "Don't talk to her anymore, avoid it if you can. Isn't good that he's asking those questions, I don't want him to know whatever he's looking for... if he doesn't know yet... I should go there and kill her at once."

"No! We'll not kill if I'm improving in my technique, I could save her."

"The more time passes, the worse."

"I won't let you! Trust me a bit, okay? I know everything you said before is probably true and you don't really trust anyone. But for once, trust me." Anduin sighed. "If you really consider me your friend and told me the truth by saying that you wanted my help."

"I..." Wrathion looked down. "I just don't like N'Zoth noticing you."

"We'll fix that, but for now trust me a little, okay?"

Although Wrathion sighed and looked away without saying anything, Anduin knew, deep down, the dragon was going to trust him even if he had said those things before. Wrathion needed him because he had let Anduin win to tell him the truth.

The night fell when the sky began to have a more purple tone. Before going dark, they started walking to Boralus again. Wrathion was right about one thing, his knee didn't hurt as much as Anduin expected when he distributed the weight well. He had created unnecessary insecurity and felt stupid about it.

"Wrathion," the dragon looked at him. "why do you think he has possessed Taelia specifically? I mean, if N'Zoth wanted to get some kind of information, he could do it with anyone closest to me."

"I don't know why she was specifically possessed. If you manage to perform the ritual, maybe she can tell us. Now N’Zoth is in her mind permanently so we can't know."

"I think it's weird anyway. By the way, is there anything specific I should do when I do this ritual thing? You didn't tell me what to do."

"You have to make a kind of Light and Void ball and introduce it in the mouth." Anduin blinked.

"Really? A bit rough, in my opinion. Why the mouth?"

"It’s easier for the parasite to get out by the mouth. It will also happen that, the moment N'Zoth sees me, he will take full control over the mind. You'll see the face changing, it will be more like a fish. And the eyes will turn red until N'Zoth is gone."

"I suppose they will return to normality if I free them from N'Zoth's control."

"They should."

"Well, I'll practice hard, I cannot let Taelia die for something that isn't her fault. Besides, Bolvar would like me to try to save the only thing he had left in the world."

Wrathion smiled a little, despite everything that had happened nowadays or the situation they were in, Anduin didn't change his attitude. It was still that light, a kind and determined light to save everyone equally. Years ago, he thought Anduin had a very soft heart and it was a bad thing, but now it caused him some admiration. After the things Wrathion had to do and see, it was curious to him that someone could be that way. But he worried Anduin's innocence was put in some lost cause and ended up hurt, he didn't want Anduin to change like Wrathion had to change long ago.

When they arrived at the Proudmoore Keep, Genn took Anduin to discuss things, he wasn't happy that Anduin escaped so much time in important moments. Wrathion had to accept once again dinner with them, obviously Anduin didn't want him to be involved in any trouble.

Wrathion hoped that Anduin didn't realize he had lied to him with the reasons that N’Zoth could have for controlling Taelia. He had strong suspicions now that Anduin told him all these things. One of the reasons was to manipulate the king of Stormwind. With the Horde, it was clear that he was doing well and had them dancing in his hand, especially with the events that happened recently in Zuldazar. With the Alliance it was obvious he would go for the softest leader. If Wrathion had realized Anduin's problems, he couldn't imagine how well N’Zoth would know. He found Bolvar's daughter and Anduin considered Bolvar a father. N'Zoth offering sex with her wasn't something that really surprised him.

But there was one more reason, a secret that no one knew. Have under control the daughter of the current Lich King? If Wrathion was a villain like him, the idea would have sounded too good, it was too perfect and beautiful.

“Damn son a bitch…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this thought when I post it in spanish, should I put in the end of the chapter what Wrathion said in draconic? I wrote it for myslef ofc, but I'm not sure if it's better for the reader to know what he said or let it be a mystery and play with the language barrier. Also, from Anduin's point of view he doesn't understand, but if I write from Wrathion's point of view you would know... meh, random night thoughts. See you next time


	15. The ritual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, how are you? Crazy times we live, I hope you're okay and save. I'm okay, I've been training for quarantine for 7 years so if someone needs advice... na, kidding. Stay safe please. Let's hope this chapter can distract you for a bit

One morning, Anduin was informed that Tyrande was perfectly conscious. The bad thing was she had very sharp headaches and a tic in her right eye. Malfurion had tried to help her, but found out a big problem, Tyrande had a hard time even catching a ball. A tremor had grown in her hands and she couldn't force herself. That led to her becoming very frustrated and having worse headaches. Anduin imagined it would happen, but the problem was that Tyrande was being stubborn once again. After breakfast he decided to see her. Apart from Malfurion and Velen, he knew she also had a little chat with Maiev, who had traveled to Kul Tiras to discuss something. The warden had hopes of reconquering the Darkshore, but Tyrande's condition couldn't go, Anduin knew they argued a bit. The room was quite empty, many of the soldiers were on feet again and the most critical remained. He walked to the end of the room and, as curtains were drawn, his gaze met Tyrande's. She was still lying down and had the bandage on her head. The elf quickly cut eye contact, as if she was embarrassed to be seen like this. Anduin understood her, a legendary priestess in this state was tough. He knew very well what it was like to keep up appearances and how much you want to disappear when you can't hide a weakness. But to him, being like this wasn't going to degrade anything, she was still legendary. Anduin reached into his pocket and touched a small ball he took minutes before.

"They told me you were conscious." Anduin began. "Do you need something?"

"No..." Tyrande's voice was weak. Anduin sat down on a stool next to him.

"How are you doing?" Tyrande just looked aside. "I was told that Maiev spoke to you."

"Yes, she wants to reconquer the Darkshore."

"And how exactly do you want to do that?"

"Fighting."

"With what?"

"With whatever we have." Anduin sighed.

"I don't think you can recover that territory if there aren't enough people or resources for such a reconquest."

"Then we will go alone if you don't help us."

"Tyrande, do you want the same thing that happened in the Valley happening again?" Tyrande looked at him. "Actually that battle was very lost for us, they would have killed us. We were very lucky that Wrathion came and got us out of that situation. But that deal I made with him is over and he will no longer come with us on our crusades against the Horde, he has his own interests. If you go to the Darkshore, you will suffer the fate that we luckily avoid in the Valley."

"But it's still our home."

"You won't get it back if you're dead. The Kaldorei have already suffered enough, impatience and revenge will not help you at all. You don't know what happened to our army, do you?" Tyrande shook her head slowly. "We lost half of it. The Horde had a part of its army in Kalimdor, so the numbers favor them. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided, we cannot, you know that we lost many during the Burning Legion invasion, we need to be together."

"We are not your own people."

"You are also part of the Alliance, I see you as part of my people. If there really was anything I could do to take back your home, I would do it without hesitation. But right now, if I put my feet on the ground, I know we can't. If we go blindly again, just like in the Valley, then we may never come home again. We all took a blow in that battle and not only physically, it is time to consider stopping for a while." Tyrande sighed slowly and tried to rub her eyes, but her right hand trembled too much.

"And what do you want to do? Wait?"

"For now yes. Impatience was our enemy and we almost paid for it. We have to be smarter, recover from these wounds and move forward together. I..." Anduin reflected. "I promise you that the Kaldorei will have a home again. And if it cannot be in Teldrassil and surroundings, I will move heaven and earth if it's necessary to find one. You will not be left homeless."

"But our home has always been the forests."

"Home has always been where the people are, if not here, then another place will be."

Anduin took the ball out of his pocket and offered it to Tyrande. It was a green ball filled with flour. The elf tried to catch it, but it was very difficult, her hand trembled and when she wanted to grab it, it twisted a little. Tyrande gave it up and looked at the other end of the room ashamed that she couldn't do even that. Anduin understood what she felt, the same thing happened to him long ago. The young king took Tyrande's trembling hand and carefully placed the ball in her palm.  
  
  


"For now, I think you should focus on recovering from this injury. I know it will be hard for you, but I'm sure you will recover and return. It doesn't matter if you have to go slowly, go at the rhythm that suits you best." Anduin was surprised by his own words, maybe his talks with Wrathion had stuck deeper than he thought.

"Just one question, is it true what happened in Zandalar?"

"Zul's betrayal? Yes, their king could die."

"And you are not going to consider attacking Dazar’alor now that they are in this situation?" Anduin frowned.

"How could I do such a thing?"

"Is pity what I see?"

"t's common sense. That is not as if we were attacking a Horde camp, it is a city full of civilians and children who have nothing to do with our war."

"When they attacked Teldrassil they did that to us!"

"For that very reason! We are not them! I don't want us to become monsters to defeat other monsters, I don't want us to become a second Horde, ever. I will tell you something, it is much better to let them destroy each other, let hatred and rage blind them and we will win, without becoming murderers. Let's not make that mistake."

There was an awkward silence, neither of them knew what to say. Anduin thought he had said something that might upset her by not wanting to storm the city, but Tyrande looked calm. Maybe deep down he convinced her. The elf grabbed the ball as hard as she could by pressing it against her belly and sighed.

"I think you should investigate what has happened between Zandalaris."

"Zul's reasons for being with the blood trolls?"

"And not only that. Shandris told me a pair of sentries returned from Nazmir. I don't know what the blood trolls want, but the practices they do are creepy and the magic they use goes against everything. If Zul is truly one of the leaders, he is working for someone dangerous. And not only that, they have a C'Thraxxi. I wanted to investigate on my own, but I won't be able to. If you have time, I'd like to ask you for that favor."

"Sure." Anduin didn't expect her to ask him something like that. "Of course I can investigate it. There are also things I don't understand, I will try to uncover whatever is happening."

Although she tried to hide it, Anduin could see Tyrande's small smile and felt relieved. Maybe, for now, he relaxed the priestess's nerves. When they said goodbye, Anduin promised to help her with the recovery. Even if he had had arguments with Tyrande in the last few months that made him nervous, he didn't want to ignore her in such a delicate situation, much less if he understood well what she was going through.

Coming out into the morning light of the sun, he found Wrathion waiting. Partly he was glad the dragon had listened to him in the end and not scuttled off to get into trouble. But Anduin was aware that Wrathion wasn't going anywhere to make sure Taelia didn't start a conversation with him, N’Zoth caused that effect. He found it funny how they turned the tables for interest, though he wasn't going to complain.

Anduin decided to speak to Mathias, he needed him to send one of the best SI:7 teams to Nazmir as soon as possible and see what exactly the blood trolls were doing. The possibility that they would have to deal with a third enemy didn't appeal to him at all. As they walked to the ship, he realized that there were things in this story that he didn't understand. Zul had served Rastakhan for years helping with very accurate predictions, he brought the Zandalari empire to greatness. Now he had betrayed and practically murdered his friend, why now? He had many moments in history to do it. Did something big happen recently that gave him freedom to do it? Had he been planning it for years? Was it the influence of the Horde? Zul wanted the union of the Zandalaris and the Horde, he escaped with them. Did he see in them an opportunity to do this? It wouldn't make sense, the Horde would have done something to help its new allies. He didn't understand anything.

Mathias, as usual, was at a small operating table handling comings and goings. The spymaster nodded to Anduin as he finished writing a report. There was a guard who shifted uneasily upon seeing Wrathion.

"Mathias." Anduin called. "Is it a bad time?"

"Not at all, I just do paperwork, tell me."

"I just wanted to know if you could... do some research." Mathias looked curious.

"What kind of research?"

"It's about the blood trolls. Zul's betrayal draws a lot of attention and we all believe that something strange happens in Nazmir. I would like you to investigate." Mathias sighed.

"Difficult matter, Anduin. Hardly anyone wants to go to that swamp lost in the fog and few return."

"I know, I'm aware of these problems, but this is very important, Mathias. You don't have anyone who can go? Don't you have specialized teams left?"

"Yes, I do, but many fear the place."

"Wow, is the SI:7 really in such a bad position?" Wrathion interrupted wryly, Mathias frowned at him.

"Refrain from commenting, dragon. Reality is more complex than it seems."

"Or maybe it's just you aren't really well trained."

With the face Mathias had, Anduin gestured Wrathion to make him shut up, it was an important conversation for him. Probably this was the attitude that used to bother people when he got into those problems. Then one of the soldiers approached somewhat hesitantly.

"Excuse me, your majesty?" Anduin looked at him. "This one shouldn't be here." he said pointing to Wrathion.

"What is the problem?" Anduin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He is not one of ours, he should not be here if he is... a black dragon."

Anduin was surprised when he emphasized that, it seemed that the reputation of the black dragonflight would follow Wrathion to the end of his days. He looked at Wrathion sideways, it was clear that he wasn't happy about being called like that.

"Don't say anything you can regret." said Wrathion.

"Let's see." Anduin approached the soldier. "He is here for other very important matters, don't worry."

"But my king, he attacked some Kultirans, and he broke my companion's nose when he tried to stop him."

"I am aware of the altercations, I will do something about it, but right now it is a delicate situation."

"But..." the soldier looked disappointed and gave a glare at Wrathion. "I would not have this little Deathwing close."

Before Anduin could reply, Wrathion had grabbed the soldier by the neck and slammed him against the ship's wood, much of the wood cracked because of that, and the dragon's red eyes showed anger. That soldier tried to remove Wrathion's hand from his neck without much success. Anduin took a step and gently grabbed his arm.

"Stop, leave him." Anduin said nervously. "Just let him go. Please."

Wrathion didn't move until he looked at Anduin. The anger in his red eyes slowly dissipated and the grip grew weaker. The young king ended up taking him away from the soldier at least a meter and looked at him somewhat shocked. The truth was he never imagined that Wrathion had a violent side, he had always been quite calm. Wrathion clicked his tongue and decided to leave without saying anything. He jumped off the deck of the ship and got lost in the harbor. Anduin rubbed his temples with his hands. Being called by that name must not be pleasant.

The soldier complained about everything and asked that something should be done, Anduin insisted that he would take care of it. Actually he would have told him to not interfere in such matters but he couldn't tell him that either. Mathias was stunned and found it difficult to refocus on Anduin's request. After talking for a while, they agreed to send a good team led by Falstad, who ended up offering, on a mission that would last several hours. For security, they wouldn't spend too much time in an enemies land, especially if they liked to make blood sacrifices with outsiders.

That noon, while eating, Anduin worried when Wrathion didn't appear. He knew the dragon had a certain temperament, he told him that he used to 'lose sight of everything' when he was angry and probably didn't want to talk to anyone now. Maybe Anduin could cheer him up with some nonsense he could think of, he had to help him with Taelia. He decided that he would look for him later, he just hoped that his hunch was enough, otherwise, he wouldn't know where to look.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Anduin believed this was the first time that the day had been kept clear of rain-threatening clouds. Until now, every day was cloudy or rainy, today he could finally enjoy a whole day of sun. After a while, it was still hard for him to get used to the weather.

It was in the afternoon when Anduin went out under the excuse that he wanted to get some air. He spent several hours with Mathias locating and gathering the best SI:7 agents for the mission while they persuaded them to go, he needed to distract himself for a while. He escaped again from Boralus and headed to the place where he used to train with Wrathion. If his suspicions were right, he was sure to find him there. Anduin was somewhat relieved when he saw the dragon there, lying on the grass with his hands behind his head. He was with a cat and small dog, the cat was asleep on his chest rising and falling according to Wrathion's breathing and the dog had his head on his right leg. Anduin believed that Wrathion himself was asleep, but the dragon opened his eyes when he noticed Anduin's presence.

"Hello."

Although Anduin greeted, Wrathion didn't reply, he just took a long breath. Anduin sat next to him and looked at him confused. The dog woke up and approached Anduin to lick his hand. He could see that it was the same dog that he petted the night he saw Wrathion surrounded by stray animals. On his injured leg, there was now a small bandage.

"Why do you surround yourself with animals?" asked genuine Anduin. "One night I saw you surrounded by them while you fed them."

"They follow me. _Bo’aav waere_." he changed to Draconic when he spoke to the cat, but the cat meowed. "_Nahlot, dreh’i_."

The cat obeyed whatever Wrathion said, and with a little thump to the dog, they started walking to get lost somewhere. Anduin sensed that perhaps he told them to leave.

"Can you talk to animals perfectly?" Wrathion nodded. "I wasn't sure dragons could do it."

"Not everyone can, actually."

"How exactly do you do it? It is not as if you use the same dialect."

"It's kind of weird I guess. When they speak, I hear it in my head in Draconic, and they understand me when I speak."

"I see, it has to be great..." Anduin hesitated. "Hey... Sorry if you were bothered by what the soldier said, although I didn't know you would react like that." Wrathion smiled wryly.

"Would you like to be called... I don't know... Arthas?" Anduin felt hurt.

"No."

"Well, I don't like to be called Deathwing, okay? He doomed us."

"Okay, I get it. But I didn't know you were violent, you used to be very calm."

"People change." Anduin frowned.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about that situation." Wrathion rubbed his eyes as he sighed.

"It doesn't matter, don't care about it. We better forget."

"Will you play Jihui with me at dinner?"

Wrathion nodded and Anduin smiled. At least he looked more relaxed now. When Wrathion said people change, Anduin already realized the dragon changed, but he couldn't help wondering why he had changed that way. Wrathion was closed before, but where at first there was a simple wall, now there were too many. In Stormwind, when Anduin wanted to know about him, the dragon only asked him to not mention the past because he could bring 'painful moments' and decided not to ask. But now that he thought about it, maybe something very bad happened to Wrathion considering he was fighting against N’Zoth. What if the old god hurt him in one of those fights? A damage too big that it caused Wrathion to close completely?

"You're staring at me." Wrathion pointed out, not wanting to accuse.

"Oh, I was just thinking."

"In the favor you asked Mathias?"

"Yes." he lied, hoping it wouldn't show.

"Don't expect too much information, I don't think they can get too close given the circumstances."

"What do you mean 'given the circumstances'?"

"I think you can guess."

Anduin frowned, what exactly should he know? Beyond Zul's betrayal, he couldn't think of anything else. Zul was a leader of the blood trolls, they gathered in Nazmir. Couldn't they get closer because their security was bigger? Or was it something else?

"I think you know more about this matter than you appear." Anduin commented, Wrathion half smiled.

"Maybe."

"Don't tell me that the one N’Zoth has under control in Zandalar is involved in all this?" Wrathion raised his eyebrow and smiled at him. "No way, is he in this too?"

"N’Zoth is a being with one of the most complex minds, he can be at many things at the same time, in addition, he is intelligent."

"But then who is under control?"

"Who will it be... by now you should guess." Anduin frowned.

"Is it someone I know?"

"Maybe..." that's when he understood.

"Zul...?" Wrathion's face was enough confirmation. "No way..."

"N’Zoth knows very well who to control and Zul has always been at his mercy, did you really believe that his predictions came out of nowhere?"

"Since when is he under control?"

"Many years. He has no salvation, so don't try, he must die."

"We should go to Nazmir as soon as possible!"

"Wow, stop there, light-boy." Anduin frowned at such a nickname. "Before we deal with it, we have two possessed here. Taelia and Leo can be salvageable because they haven't been under control too much time."

"What if I can't perform the ritual?"

"Well, they will have to die." Anduin shook his head.

"If they have salvation we won't kill them." Wrathion tried to reply. "No, we won't kill someone who has salvation. If I need a lot of practice, then so be it. But we won't kill. Promise me."

Wrathion sighed heavily, he didn't want to deprive himself of a solution. Anduin was determined not to kill anyone if he could avoid it, as usual. Wrathion shook his little finger with Anduin's.

"I hope that conviction of yours to save the whole world won't play a trick on you one day, Anduin."

Although Anduin had smiled when he shook his finger, after hearing that, it faded a bit. It wasn't the first time someone had said something like that to him, Wrathion himself had told him long ago. He understood that he wouldn't always save them all, but if there was a slight chance, Anduin would hold on for dear life.

At least for now it didn't seem like Wrathion had made that promise in vain, he wouldn't kill a young girl and a little boy, but Anduin should try much harder.

"Are you sure there is no way to save Zul either?" Wrathion rolled his eyes a little, tiredly. "Okay, okay, I got it. I guess N’Zoth has all the blood trolls under control like Zul."

"More or less. Only Zul is possessed, the others are influenced." Anduin looked at him curiously. "It's like the domino effect, if one falls, the others go behind. The same thing happened with my flight. Deathwing fell, the others had their minds under the influence of the possessed. I remember it more or less."

"Before corruption was taken from you? How can you remember?"

"Dragons are aware even when we're inside the egg. I don't quite know what it was like to be influenced, but I remember hearing many voices."

"What kind of voices?"

"I don't know. I don't remember it that well. My thoughts and memory became clear when the corruption was taken from me." Anduin stared at him. "The truth is that I was glad to remove that black mist from my eyes, I was confused at first, but it felt good. You will do them a big favor."

"The truth is I have improved a lot in the domain of shadows."

"Why don't you try it now?"

Anduin sighed decisively. He had tried combining it several times, but between the fact that it didn't work out or lasted a few seconds, he never managed to do it. He was pretty calm now and tried one more time. Anduin already managed to summon Light and shadows at the same time and they didn't resist. Shadows to pull shadows and Light to purge it. When he summoned the powers, one in each hand, they no longer denied each other as on other occasions, they came out quite fluid. But they kept rejecting each other when trying to get them together, just like oil and water. Still, he tried to force it, and after several tries, he did a little, this time he was determined. He envisioned a ball, as Wrathion suggested, and after shaping it, the ball held for a few seconds, but something started to go wrong. His left hand, the one with the shadows, began to tremble. The shadows were trying to take complete control, it was as if they were hungry and the only thing they could eat was the Light. The voices became overwhelming the more time passed and he found it difficult to keep them at bay, especially since they seemed to be laughing, a laugh that sounded machiavellian. The reasons he had for performing the ritual began to disappear between laughts and he forced himself to stop.

"Light, it's horrible..." Anduin said almost breathless.

"Your hand was shaking a lot." the king rubbed his eyes slowly.

"Sometimes I think I won't succeed. I cannot last even thirty seconds, I'm not familiar with these feelings. And I begin to think that they're very different things, so they won't ever mix well."

"Look."

Wrathion created fire from his right hand and summoned earth with his left. He started mixing them without any repercussion despite being different elements and made them dance together in a comical way. As soon as he was tired of the exhibition, he made them disappear and looked at Anduin.

"Do you know why I can do that? Aside from practice, I don't let magic override my will or whatever reasons I may have for using it, even if they sometimes want to separate."

"But your magic on it is more natural, you have a big affinity for it."

"You also have much more affinity on those powers than any other. What happens is I think you end up losing your will between whispers. Maybe you shouldn't think the powers are going to kill each other. Summon only the Light now."

It seemed like a strange request, but he summoned the Light in his right hand. Wrathion created a flame from his and mixed it with the Light. He was caught off guard, but it felt quite good. The Light was shining even brighter with the fire.

"Although they're two different things." Wrathion began. "There is no problem in mixing."

"Because there's no malice?"

"Because both you and I are one hundred percent sure that we won't hurt each other, or that they are bad."

"I should clarify my mind."

"Taelia is the one who hasn't been possessed for too much time, it will be relatively simple, you don't even have to make a big ball. Think of your desire to save her from a fate like death, that you would do Bolvar a favor. Hold on to that with all the conviction you can."

Anduin cocked his head. It was true that his subconscious was still thinking badly about the Void. He had followed Alleria's advice and it worked quite well, but he was probably respecting the powers in a way that he shouldn't, that's why the shadows were trying to take control all the time. He had to calm himself more, no power should be above his will. When Anduin closed his eyes to try again, he concentrated as much as he could. Nothing else was entering his mind, he had stopped perceiving his surroundings completely, only the whispers and the undoubted presence of the Light were present. The thought of saving Taelia helped him more than he thought, she was just a victim, she didn't deserve to die. The shadows, as usual, tried to overcome his will, his left hand trembled. But Wrathion brushed the back of his hand and he relaxed a lot. Did his subconscious notice that Wrathion was by his side and relaxed? Curious. Anduin had to admit that Wrathion was very strong, and not just physically. The fact that he had been fighting with N’Zoth for a long time or all the knowledge he had was admirable. If the dragon stayed with him, he probably wouldn't get hurt, it was all the peace he needed now. Suddenly he felt everything became calm, the voices and the presence of the Light remained at the same level. When Anduin opened his eyes, he gasped in surprise. The Light and the shadows were perfectly combined into a small ball no larger than the palm of his hand.

"Oh... oh!" exclaimed Anduin, still surprised.

"It's great! This was what you had to do, it's perfect."

"Maybe a little small?"

"For the parasite that Taelia has, it's more than enough. Congratulations."

Anduin smiled and held the ball a while before making it disappear. He had to admit doing that was mentally exhausting, but it was so gratifying to know he had succeeded that he didn't care. Despite that, they weren't going to rush and go for it now, they had to be sure that it would come out yes or yes. Wrathion decided Anduin should take a little more practice.

It was lucky that the next day it didn't stop raining for a second. It was already supposed to happen when a storm fell during the night. Anduin decided to stay in his room almost without leaving. As soon as someone wondered what he was doing, he just claimed he was doing paperwork. It was a half lie, it was true that he had to deal with some papers, especially excusing Wrathion for aggressions. But the reality was he spent all day practicing. Most of the time he managed to do the ball at first attempt, very few to the second and only once did it miss. At the end of the day he felt very fulfilled by achieving such a feat.

Wrathion proposed to free her from control next day upon seeing the good results and only if Anduin was confident, to which the young king accepted. It was time to settle that little matter.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

A report by Mathias Shaw came before lunch, bearing precisely the details Anduin had insisted on two days earlier. The mission ended up lengthening in the end, apparently the blood trolls increased the defenses in Nazmir. It was easy to get in, but not to get out of that swamp.

Although it was something that interested him very much, Anduin had to postpone reading until later, today he needed to have a completely clear mind and shouldn't worry about anything that might distract him a little.

Wrathion didn't appear until the meal, he had been preparing certain details that included asking him for a considerable amount of gold for some reason. While they ate, they played Jihui, something that Genn disliked, he didn't like when people played while eating. The dragon always loved to secretly pass messages in front of people. As soon as he placed one of the tokens, there was a small note next to it. Anduin read it, hiding everything he could; 'Come see me behind the Keep in an hour.'

Anduin didn't understand what Wrathion had so much to prepare, but the fact that it took so long for safety worried him more than it should. How dangerous could it be? He had no idea what would happen, Wrathion had warned him that N’Zoth could be very dangerous. He tried to put that worry aside, he couldn't distract himself and occupy his mind with doubts if he had to keep the Void at bay. He must trust that Wrathion knew what he was doing. It had temporarily stopped raining when Anduin went outside, the black clouds were still in the sky and it didn't seem like they were going to move. Wrathion waited leaning against a tree and smiled at him.  
  
  


"You're late." Anduin sighed heavily as soon as he reached him.

"Don't be an elitist now. What's the plan?"

"We will use the little information N'Zoth got from you against him." the young king blinked confused. "You told him that you used to be stressed, right?" Anduin nodded. "Well, in a little while you will 'casually' stumble across with Taelia. I have studied where she usually moves, so it will be easy. She'll probably talk to you first, you haven't seen each other in days so she'll want to know why."

"Will N'Zoth really do that?"

"Remember N’Zoth has some interest in you, that you disappeared for a few days caught his attention for sure. You're going to take advantage of that. You will say something you have already told Taelia, that you have had a lot of work, a lot of stress, the reasons for why she offered you sex to blow off steam, basically." Anduin was ashamed.

"Could you not mention that?"

"But that's what you're going to have to say." Anduin blinked in confusion.

"Say what?"

"Well, after clarifying why you have been busy, you tell her, casually of course, that you accept her offer because you would like to sleep with her to relieve stress, as simple as that."

"Stop, stop!" Anduin denied with his arms, nervous. "What do you mean 'as simple as that'? I can't say that to a girl I don't like! Also, I don't know if you have noticed, but a kind of heartbreaker that does those things, precisely, I am not." Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the shoulders.

"Listen to me, I'm not telling you to fuck her, I'm telling you that you have to play a role in front of N’Zoth, do you understand?"

"But you know I'm not a good liar, he will end up noticing!"

"Well, then you're going to have to make an effort like never before, otherwise, I kill her and it's over."

"You can't, idiot. You promised me! I'll do my best." Anduin took a second of silence. "And after that, what am I supposed to do? Say that I want to try all possible positions or what?"

"Ah, I forgot this is a very taboo subject among humans... After that I want you to take her to an inn that nobody usually goes to in Boralus called 'Barnacled Crab'. You just have to take her there, ask for a room and that's it. I take care of the rest."

"And when do I do the ritual?"

"I'll tell you when, first I'll have to confront N’Zoth, make him reveal himself. I already told you that, if he is the one who comes out, Taelia's face will change a little, especially her eyes, you'll surely hear N’Zoth's own voice. We have the advantage that Taelia won't use powers of the Void because she hasn't been under control for so long, and she isn't as strong as me."

"Are you one of those who believe that a woman isn't as strong as a man?"

"No, I'm one of those who knows that no race will have more strength than a dragon. And one more thing, if you see something strange, don't panic. We're going to put the plan into action. Please make it credible."

Anduin slowly nodded and headed for the Tradewinds Market area where he was supposed to find her. He kept thinking about what kind of weird things he could see that would scare him. Anduin shook his head, he had to take on a role now and he couldn't be distracted.

Before Wrathion left, he gave him certain directions. The place where she used to be and the place where the inn was. Anduin recognized the place when he indicated it, he had passed by it a few times but he didn't even know it was an inn. Anduin had to admit he felt a little nervous, he wasn't sure how he should carry such a conversation and lie like never before. Once the young king arrived at the market, he looked for a few minutes until he saw her leave a bar as Wrathion indicated. Doing his best, Anduin put his hands in his pockets and walked while looking distractedly at the ships in the harbor.

"Anduin!" he looked ahead to see Taelia waving.

"Hello!" they both approached less than a meter. "In the bar with friends?"

"Yes, we usually do it at the end of the day but they're already starting to go home. I haven't seen you in days!"

"It's true, I have been very busy and stressed." Anduin did his best to sound serious.

"The usual?" the king agreed. "They have you totally absorbed."

"They have me very stressed. I have barely been able to go out and train or anything."

"What have you been so busy with?" Anduin thought at the speed of light an excuse.

"Well... it's because of... Zul, the prophet Zul who betrayed the Zandalaris, a matter that draws attention. Some are saying that we should take advantage and these things, I won't bore you too much with details."

"Any conclusion?"

"It will look funny to you, but we haven't decided too much. We kept sending spies." he wasn't quite sure if he should really say that, especially since he saw the same red glow Leo had in her eyes.

"Well, at least you're free now."

"Not entirely, I'll have to go back to it. Now I was trying to clear my mind a little but... I can't take the stress out of it, maybe I would need something more."

"You're not here by chance, are you?" Anduin felt his heart race, had he been so obvious? Or was it just a genuine question and was it time to bring it up?

"I've considered your... ahem... 'offer'."

"I was starting to imagine it." at least she didn't seem to realize the lies. "You look a little ashamed."

"It's just it's very hard to ask you even if I need it." he said too quickly, he should calm down. "It's not the type of request that I usually make..."

"Anduin, you're a virgin, right?" that was the moment when Anduin went completely blank and blushed. "Yes, I figured it. Don't worry, it's okay, I wanted to know in advance." exactly what he needed, N'Zoth reading through him."

"I just... I'm ashamed of these things, do you accept or not?"

"Of course I accept, I'm delighted to help a king. Where do you want to do it?"

"Oh, well, do you know the 'Barnacled Crab' inn?" Taelia looked sideways thoughtfully.

"Oh yes, a place where people don't usually go, good choice. Let's go."  
  


They both started walking to the place as the sky grew darker. They didn't say much as they walked, at most Taelia asked if there was anything special he wanted to do once there but Anduin was completely ignorant about it and said nothing, only that he would let her take the reins. For now it looked like it was going well, N’Zoth had believed it, perhaps Anduin showed himself innocent enough, so that's why the old god accepted so quickly. Although in the end Anduin didn't play any role, he was himself since the beginning. Or perhaps it's that N’Zoth couldn't imagine for a second something was awaiting him.

Around the inn there weren't many people, perhaps it was the weather that drove the Kultirans to their homes, but Anduin didn't like being on a ghost street. Upon entering the inn, the hall was dimly lit. All three candles were about to die out and an older woman was surprised to see customers. When Anduin asked for a room, he realized the woman looked for a specific key even though there were many available, it was something that caught his attention. Wood creaked under their feet as they made their way to a room at the end of a hallway. There was no sign of Wrathion the entire time and Anduin worried. Anduin didn't know what Wrathion had in mind and when he turned the door key, he began to think that he couldn't keep the farse up for another minute, N’Zoth would realize something was wrong. Taelia calmly entered first and inspected the dark place, there was a desk, an armchair and a very large bed. As Anduin tried to close the door without looking, he noticed how it slammed shut alone, causing both of them to be frightened by the noise. Wrathion had been waiting there.

"Hello, N’Zoth." Wrathion said seriously while looking at Taelia. "Recently we saw each other, it's obvious you have less people under control now." Taelia frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't waste time."

Anduin didn't know what to do. Wrathion said he would be the one to confront N’Zoth alone, but Taelia looked very confused. He wanted to lock the door, but he hurt himself by touching the knob, there was a barrier. At last he realized what Wrathion did, he covered the entire room with a protective spell that it burned when touched, probably also had a soundproof effect. He also understood why he asked him for gold in the morning, he had planned everything thoroughly.

"What's this about, Anduin?" Taelia asked confused.

"You can stop pretending, for a change." Wrathion suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Wrathion sighed.

"_Shuul og i uull ryiu hnakf wgah iiyoq shg'fhn yrr zuq…_"

Anduin frowned, Wrathion had spoken just like the whispers he used to hear from the Void. Taelia was stunned, didn't move a tab, then suddenly she had a little spasm. Taelia put her hands to her head covering her face and stumbled back crashing into the bed, it seemed that something hurt too much to bear. Anduin began to see something strange, or perhaps it was his imagination, but he started to see certain energies of the Void emanating from Taelia, and behind her, a strange figure. She stopped wobbling when she looked at Wrathion again, around her eyes and part of her forehead had changed color, as if she had the physiology of a fish and her eyes had turned completely red.  
  
  


"You know what?" when Taelia spoke, her youthful voice disappeared to make way for one of the most machiavellian voices Anduin had ever heard, one of those you know it has bad intentions. "You have learned to be a real pain in the ass, I congratulate you."

"I have learned everything from you." replied Wrathion sarcastically.

"At least you learned something useful, little one."

"What I like the most is checking that you don't have any kind of power in this body."

Taelia lunged at Wrathion with a hidden knife, but the dragon calmly stopped her. Anduin found the energies of the Void that came out more and more disturbing, but the figure that was behind her was the most striking, it looked like it was getting bigger. Was N’Zoth the one he was seeing? Wrathion grabbed Taelia's wrist and pulled her to him to punch her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Anduin's natural reaction was to help her but Wrathion stepped forward to catch her and slam her against the wall with his hands around her neck. A trickle of blood fell from Taelia's mouth and nose, but she looked like she was smiling. In a swift movement, Taelia struck the dragon's abdomen and tried to push him away, but it didn't affect Wrathion and as soon as he moved, he let her fall to the ground.

"You get tired?" Wrathion asked with a faking concern. "The truth is that you're unlucky, you haven't been able to do anything with that body." N’Zoth's malevolent laugh echoed in the room.

"Are you sure?"

Taelia grabbed the chair from the desk and hurled it at him, Wrathion dodged in time and the chair disintegrated into the protection spell. Wrathion looked to have enough and reached out to give her another punch. At first she dodged several punches, but the ones that she didn't dodged looked to be very painful. Wrathion gave her no quarter at all when it came to hitting. In a small mistake by her, he gave such a blow to the leg that she just fell on the floor. The dragon caught her by the back and, wrapping her arms, immobilized her in such a way that it was impossible to move. Taelia struggled in a pathetic attempt to free herself but lacked sufficient strength. Wrathion placed his hands so that she wouldn't shake her head and looked at Anduin.

"Anduin." Wrathion called. "It's time, you have to do it."

The young king blinked, had been staring so closely into the shadows of the Void that he was in a corner watching the scene. Anduin sighed nervously and approached. N'Zoth's red eyes locked on him as soon as he was in front, but for Anduin it was impossible to guess what he might be thinking, N'Zoth just seemed to be analyzing him. Anduin couldn't have doubts, it was now or never, otherwise Wrathion had made it clear that he would kill her. Anduin mixed the Light and the shadows as he was practicing between his hands, the shadows as usual tried to take control by whispering but he quickly silenced them. If he saved Taelia maybe he could make up for everything Bolvar did for him when he was little, he clung to that idea as much as he could when he made the ball, this time it came out a little bigger than other times. As soon as he brought it to Taelia's mouth, she let out a cry of pure pain. It was as if she was being burned with an iron or directly with dragon fire, soldiers on the Valley battlefield screamed the same way. Other than that, Anduin couldn't stop hearing voices and they were beginning to be overwhelming. He was considering stopping when dark purple lines began to appear on Taelia's head, those lines were moving towards her mouth and something started to come out. A kind of deformed insect with the size of a small toe approached the ball of Light and Void and, as soon as it touched the Light, it detached itself from Taelia and fell to the ground. Everything stopped as soon as that happened, Taelia stopped trying to move and screaming and fell unconscious and the ball disappeared.

That kind of insect tried to move but very weakly, as if trying to flee. Wrathion quickly took out his dagger and stabbed it, the insect made a sort of groan and stopped moving.

"One less." the dragon murmured.

Anduin began to feel bad. As soon as he stopped doing this ritual, he began to feel dizzy. He didn't know if the room was moving on its own or if his eyes were moving too fast and destabilize him completely. Anduin tried to get to the leather chair, staggering uncontrollably, until he fell into it.

"Are you okay?" Wrathion asked.

"Yes... I think so..." Anduin was almost out of breath. "You didn't tell me I would feel like this..."

"Side effects, I guess. I have never seen anyone doing this, I wasn't sure you would feel bad. But also, congratulations for achieving it, you have done something unique. How do you feel?"

"For the part of achieving it, great. But I feel very strange. Is Taelia okay?" Wrathion took Taelia in his arms and left her on the bed.

"She's unconscious, probably because of the mental shock. I don't know if she'll wake up anytime soon, but I'm very interested in hearing what she has to say."

"But will she be alright? She had her mind under N'Zoth's control, won't it have some sort of side effect?"

"I'm not sure, it's the first time I've seen someone accomplishing the ritual." Wrathion approached the parasite lying dead in the wood and inspected it.

"When you told me she had a parasite I thought you were saying it metaphorically, not that Taelia really had that."

"What exactly did you expect?"

"Not that, for sure." Anduin sighed tiredly. "It was a bit easy anyway, don't you think?"

"Because we were very lucky that Taelia hadn't been under control for so long, the others won't be like this. Also, I have the feeling N'Zoth got what he was looking for through her." Wrathion disintegrated the parasite with a flame. "I can't get anything out of this bug, it's too small."

"I think we should take Taelia to a infirmary."

"Can you move?" Anduin laughed a little.

"Give me a minute please."

Wrathion agreed and started to undo the spell in the room. Anduin began to feel a pressure in the chest as soon as the dizziness disappeared. It wasn't too annoying, but he had never felt that way before, it was as if he had been hit too hard or his heart wasn't working well. He also had a headache and couldn't feel the Light well as always, but he also couldn't hear whispers from the Void, as if the ritual had taken away that ability. After several minutes passed, Anduin was able to get up and walk a little crooked. Wrathion decided to carry Taelia in his arms to Produmoore Keep. When they asked what had happened, the first excuse that came to mind was that they found her like this and saw several men running from the place. For now they believed and she was left in a room. Anduin asked to be warned if she woke up at any time to make a 'formal interrogation'.

That night Anduin decided not to have dinner, he still felt bad even though several hours had passed, he just wanted to sleep and regain energy that way, he would eat in the morning. Before going to bed, he took a hot shower, submerging himself in a sea of relaxing steam. Although everything looked to be back to normal, that chest discomfort persisted. Before going to sleep, he decided to take a look at Mathias's report. He got into bed in his underwear letting the sheets warm him well, he suspected he would fall asleep faster than he intended.

Although when he started reading the report, his sleep was suddenly stopped.

He had mixed feelings reading it. On one hand, he was grateful that he hadn't read it until now, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to concentrate all day. On the other hand, he regretted not reading it before and postponing it so much. The SI:7 agents took a blood troll prisoner and tried to get information from him. He was described as 'masochistic' because although they even tortured him, the troll was delighted. The number of trolls had increased and security was extreme, there was an army gathered in Nazmir. They didn't see Zul, but they did see the C'Thraxxi named Mythrax in an area called Heart of Darkness. That wasn't the worst. In the end they got information from the troll. At first he rambled on mentioning G’huun and, in the end, he confessed that the seals that held their god were destroyed and he was now free, their old god was free.

On that same day, Anduin saw strange and confusing things, but it wasn't until he read that that his head finally exploded. Wrathion told him that Zul was under N'Zoth's control. Zul was confirmed to be one of the leaders of the blood trolls and they all serve another old god, whom he knew nothing about, named G’huun. Another old god? Were there mistakes in that report?

He didn't understand anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to G'huun. Playing as Alliance, I hated how Uldir raid was handled, we had 0 reasons to be there honestly. I was like 'who is G'huun?' 'why am I killing G'huun?' DD:  
Anyway, have a nice day and see you next time!


	16. Distant memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you're doing fine with the lockdown, bullshit times we live (although i've been living like this for years now lul) Let's see if you can get some distraction by this

After two quiet days, Anduin stopped feeling that discomfort in his chest. It had been quite strange for him. Sometimes it was like he couldn't breathe well or maybe he was having a heart attack, but after one night, Anduin suddenly stopped feeling it. If that was the side effect of freeing a person who had been under control for a short time, he didn't want to imagine what would happen to him if he did the ritual to Leo, who had been under control several months.

Taelia hadn't woken up yet, she was still in bed longer than expected. Her coworkers began to suspect they lied with what happened, but of course, they couldn't tell the truth either.

As Anduin woke up feeling very good that morning and he decided to visit Tyrande. The young king had heard she could finally get out of bed and walk more or less. The elf began to do very basic exercises, such as holding the ball of flour that he gave her days ago. Anduin greeted smiling when he saw her, she was sitting at a small table full of small scattered objects.

"Glad to see you can get out of bed now." Anduin said, smiling.

"If you consider this getting out of bed..."

"Something similar happened to me."

Tyrande looked sideways at the young king sitting down as she tried to take the ball, although she found it difficult to clench her fist. The harder the elf tried, the more she dragged the ball to the edge of the table until it fell. Anduin bent down to pick it up while Tyrande sighed.

"Anyway..."

"Don't worry, you are doing your best. You know what? When Garrosh threw the Divine Bell at me, it took me a long time to recover because I didn't put in enough effort. I became more lazy than I should have."

"Why?"

"I didn't move much, I got to lose a lot of weight. My father was not amused by that and, as soon as I was able to lift a weight without problem, he put me on a strict training program."

"I think we don't have the same problem."

"No, but my advice would be don’t do what I did no matter how disastrous everything looks. It's easy to get used to doing nothing when something really hurts."

Anduin recalled the bad situation he put himself in years ago. Although he had to go for a walk and do some exercise every day to regain his strength, he stayed at the tavern playing Jihui with Wrathion all the time. Anduin ended up pale and very thin and he could still remember Varian's worried face when he saw his condition. When Garrosh's entire trial passed and he returned to Stormwind, his father wouldn't let him leave the city at all. Anduin's day to day turned into training sessions he hate. Of course he understood that he should be healthy, especially if he was the prince and was seen as an example of the kingdom. But Anduin never had the motivation for working out every day and remembered that year as the most boring one he had in his life. It was then when the aftermath of the accident began to come out, because he was forcing things, something Varian never realized. He wasn't going to push Tyrande into something similar, if it was necessary to go slow it wasn't a problem and Anduin knew it first hand.

The young king spent most of the morning with the elf trying to catch a ball correctly or picking up clips and headbands. Although it was very hard for her, he could see some progress. Anduin knew how a human would progress, but perhaps for a Kaldorei it would be faster.

"I investigated a bit on Nazmir." Anduin dropped. Tyrande stopped.

"Did you find something interesting?"

"Well, it is difficult to get information from there, apparently they have increased security. But they spoke about a kind of god called G’huun, it was what I most heard."

"G’huun? I have not heard that name before."

"No? They say he is an old god, but I don't know how true that may be."

"The old gods are dead." Anduin had to hold a little laugh.

"Only three died, one more is missing, right?"

"N’Zoth? That's a legend, they never found anything, do you believe that story?"

"I won't be surprised if it turns out to be true."

Anduin continued to help her without saying much more about it. She didn't know N’Zoth was real, much less knew of the existence of G’huun, she wouldn't help him to understand what was going on. As soon as Malfurion arrived minutes later, he took over and the young king took the opportunity to eat.

Most people used to be busy these days, only Genn joined him to eat. Tess and Dereck were sent to locate and eliminate Horde's spies, as on other occasions, inside Kul Tiras and Mia was with Katherine. Wrathion didn't come either, Anduin only saw him the night before when they had dinner together. The dragon had been somewhat missing and that bothered him, especially since he had to speak to him about certain information Wrathion surely hid regarding G’huun.

But right now, Genn was showing him some alarming reports. Apparently, after the assault on Lordaeron, not all members of the Horde escaped to Orgrimmar. Sylvanas and Lor’Themar kept troops throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and were causing some trouble, several letters from Muradin mentioned this matter. The Horde was obstructing the Thandol Span, which connected the north and south of the Eastern Kingdoms. He soon began to understand the reason why they were grouped there.

"Well." Genn said as he gave him a letter. "I think you can see the problem now." Anduin quickly read that report while taking a drink of water.

"Obstruction of Azerite and other primary resources..."

"This is bad. When the Forsaken left Lordaeron, much of the Horde's presence was expected to disappear. But it doesn't seem it has changed too much, it's even worse."

"They have the numbers, you know that. During the Burning Legion invasion we lost more people than they did and it was, well, still a slow recovery."

"I know, but their ability to multiply outshines rabbits. For once we can have a location in Stromgarde and this happens."

"Well, remember Sylvanas can raise the dead, they're more and more Forsaken... What do we do with this? Shall we send troops to cover Arathi?"

"It's not like we can send too many troops now, you already know our situation. Also, we need some investigation, a couple of witnesses is not enough. We have to be sure of how many enemy troops there are in that territory. We need the SI:7."

"I'll talk to Mathias about it to see what he has available."

Genn stroke Anduin's nape softly, something that said 'everything will go well'. Genn got used to do it lately when something seemed to be complicated. The young king was still worried, it was like everything was piling up little by little. Try to recompose from some hard battles, fully integrate Kul Tiras into the Alliance, calm the nerves of leaders, investigate possible new enemies and now get a strategic point in Arathi. Besides, he also had the whole N’Zoth business he kept in secret. It wasn't as if he could send troops away at times like this and he felt that at some point everything would explode at the same time.

After eating, Anduin decided to talk to Mathias about it. Lately he thought he was demanding too much. Many members of the SI:7 perished in a few months, apart from that, few people had what it took to join. Between Kul Tiras and Zandalar were the majority of agents, he wasn't sure of finding anyone available in Stormwind.

Whatever the plan was, he was interrupted by Wrathion. As soon as he left the Keep, the dragon stopped him and almost dragged him inside again. As soon as Anduin complained, Wrathion explained: Taelia had woken up.

The two ran through the halls as if they were two children escaping from the scene of a serious prank. By stopping at the entrance they changed their attitude to something more serious, they had to make the little lie about how they found her credible and not make it clear they knew exactly what happened.

The room was half empty, only a couple of wounded people lay quietly on the furthest beds. Taelia was in a bed near a window and she was looking through it. As soon as she noticed their presence, Anduin greeted her.

"Hi, how are you, Taelia?"

"Fine?" her voice sounded a bit weak and her gaze was confused. Anduin recalled that perhaps N’Zoth controlled her before they met and that's why she looked at him that way. The king sat on a stool beside her.

"Do you know who I am?" Taelia was thoughtful for a few seconds.

"You're Anduin Wrynn, the king of Stormwind."

"And do you remind him?" Anduin pointed to Wrathion, who was at the foot of the bed. Taelia shook her head slowly.

"I don't think I ever saw him..." the young king frowned, did N'Zoth control her after they met? It was something that disturbed him completely. "Do you know what happened to me?"

"More or less, but we need your collaboration." Taelia nodded. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well... I remember that you welcomed us in the Alliance, celebrated the union with my colleagues in the usual bar... I think one day I met you and you invited me to chat about my father, right?"

"Yes, near a kind of dog orphanage."

"Yes, yes, I remember that. Then Flynn came looking for me because Jaina wanted to talk to me, I remember talking to her about what happened with Priscilla and then..." Taelia went blank and tensed. "No... I went to sleep that night and then... Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"It's all in black, I don't remember anything." Anduin looked confused at Wrathion, he was thoughtful. "You say you know more or less what happened to me?" Wrathion shifted and moved to her side, serious.

"Tell me." he began. "Do you remember hearing a strange voice when you went to sleep?" Taelia frowned in confusion.

"I'm not sure, I hardly remember that day, only I went to sleep because of a headache."

"Have you suffered any trauma in your life you haven't been able to overcome?"

"Never... What is that question for?"

"This can help me understand what happened to you. Are you sure you don't have very strong negative emotions or sleep-depriving issues at night?"

"I'm pretty sure." Wrathion was thoughtful.

"When you went to sleep that night, can you try to remember if 'something' spoke to you in dreams? A voice that sounded friendly promising you something. Try to remember." Taelia closed her eyes and placed her fingers on her temples, making an effort to remember. After a minute, she looked at Wrathion.

"I think I did hear a voice in the dark."

"And what did it tell you?" Taelia shook her head quickly.

"I don't remember..." Wrathion sighed, disappointed. "What the hell happened to me?" this time she sounded scared.

"Look, you may have been under someone's mind control for many days, that's why you're in this situation now."

"What?" Taelia was completely baffled.

"But better don't tell anyone, either they think you're crazy or they will do tests that won't benefit you at all. I wouldn't tell anyone what I just told you and I can help you if you don't complicate things."

"But then, what about me? Am I sick or something like that?"

"No, you're you again, you're the owner of your thoughts. You have only been a victim."

Wrathion managed to relax her in the end. Taelia was clearly puzzled, but Anduin figured it must be hard waking up one day and discovering you don't remember anything from weeks ago because something had you under mind control. For now, Wrathion suggested her to walk through common areas in her everyday life to see if she could clear her mind further and remember something in the end, to which Taelia agreed.

Anduin had to use the Light to heal her before she left. Taelia still had the blows the dragon had to give her to immobilize her. Wrathion didn't think twice when it came to doing damage.

As Anduin left the room, he saw Wrathion had waited for him outside. He didn't look happy, he seemed angry. The young king sat next to him on the bench and stayed a few seconds without saying anything until Anduin looked at him.

"Pity she doesn't remember anything." Anduin said, Wrathion sighed. "Are you sure she is free now?"

"Completely sure, she has no trace of N’Zoth."

"Why are you angry?"

"Because I haven't got anything clear from this, only doubts. I don't have the remotest idea of how N'Zoth possessed her and if he has new tactics to do it it's not good news." Anduin was thoughtful.

"Maybe after a while she ends up remembering something, besides, we have saved her, isn't that the positive part?"

"I suppose." the indifference Wrathion showed bothered Anduin and the dragon realized. "It's great that she's alive, really, just I expected something else. Although I should have seen it coming…"

Anduin didn't know whether to believe that, he knew Wrathion's indifference to people well. He didn't think the dragon cared that Taelia was alive, he only cared about N’Zoth. The two of them remained in comfortable silence. Anduin considered telling him about G’huun now, since he had no opportunity before, but didn't know what to say. The report was in his pocket and he thought about giving it to him saying something like: 'You lied to me.' 'Why don't you tell me all at once?'

"ANDUIN!!"

The two young men turned to the voice. Dereck was running towards them quickly and, on arrival, almost fell to his knees from exhaustion, as if he had made the race of his life.

"Are you okay?" Anduin asked as he helped him sit up.

"They told me... I would find you around here, I came as fast as I could." Dereck answered breathlessly.

"Something wrong?"

"Wrong? I was in the Stormsong Valley when I discovered it. Leo is coming to the Keep." Anduin turned pale.

"What?"

"And he doesn't come alone, all his followers are with him. I was intrigued and I tried to listen closely... I heard them talk about you and that Leo wants to talk to you." Anduin looked at Wrathion, he was as surprised as he was. "I don't understand much of what has happened between you and him, but the way they talked about you made me think it wasn't a good thing, that's why I came as soon as possible." Anduin considered the possibilities.

"Is he near?"

"About to reach the Valley pass to Tiragarde when I saw him, I don't think he will take too long to get there."

"Will you excuse us for a moment?" Wrathion said.

Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the arm and led him to a corner away from everybody as Dereck continued to try to breathe sitting on the bench. The dragon was clearly concerned and leaned against the wall. When Anduin spoke, he did in a very low voice.

"What is N’Zoth up to now?"

"I don't know and I don't want to find out. We have to get out of here as soon as possible." Anduin frowned.

"Where?"

"If you don't want to get lost somewhere for a few days, I suggest going to Stormwind."

"But what do I say to the others? It's not as if I could come and go without saying anything."

"Well, come up with something, any reason you could go."

"But why do you want to run away now?"

"He's coming for you and you aren't ready to save Leo yet. Look, chances that I'll kill Leo if we stay, one hundred. Chances of not killing him because we're gone, zero. Choose carefully." Anduin considered it. Just going to Stormwind would raise suspicions, he needed something.

"Well... it could be under the excuse of a small threat in Arathi, but I don't know if it's credible."

"It doesn't matter, whatever, but we can't be here. And we have to take Taelia."

"Why?"

"She can't be here if N’Zoth is hanging around here."

Anduin nodded, he was right, Taelia couldn't stay if N’Zoth was so close, maybe he tried to get her back. But before Anduin leaves, he needed someone he could trust to cover up his departure without raising suspicions that something bad had happened with Leo. Arathi's excuse could be a good one and he shouldn't entertain himself by explaining to everyone as he used to. He should tell someone who didn't ask many questions to explain the situation to others for him.

There were ships transporting people from Kul Tiras to Stormwind constantly so there would be no problem. Wrathion decided to go find Taelia on his own while Anduin would try to find someone who could help. Right now, he couldn't think of anyone other than Dereck, he considered him a friend and was sure he could do that favor. Anduin approached him again as Wrathion ran to the harbor. Dereck was still on the bench recovering from the effort.

"Dereck, I need a favor." the spy looked at him, his breathing had calmed down.

"Tell me."

"I have to go to Stormwind, it's important, and I need you to tell the others that it's because of a threat in Arathi and that I want to control things from there."

"Arathi? But what about Leo?" Anduin shook his head. "There is something serious happening with him, right?"

"You probably will know soon."

"But Arathi is very serious too? What do I say to the others, exactly?"

"It's not serious, only the presence of the Horde, but if you can explain it in a very dramatic way I'll appreciate it very much. Another favor I ask of you is, when Leo arrives here, I need you to send me letters saying what exactly he does, don't miss a thing, please. If you need someone else for all this, count on Tess, she knows well how to do these things."

"But... will you be safe? I mean, is it something that happens to Leo or to you?"

"A bit of everything. Can I trust you for this?"

"I can do it, but be careful." Anduin smiled.

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Maybe it took longer than expected, they sailed fast at least. It took Wrathion a bit to convince Taelia to come, she was still a bit disoriented and slightly suspicious of everything. Anduin didn't have it easy. Apart from Dereck, he also had to tell Mathias that he had to leave. The spymaster saw him near the ship and obviously asked, but for once Anduin lied to him. Arathi was the big excuse, that Muradin had said he wasn't sure what to send and that the young king would control it for a few days. Although Mathias frowned, in the end he let him go without asking much. Mathias was so busy lately on Kul Tiras and Zandalar that he had hardly any people left for the Eastern Kingdoms, so he let Anduin take the Arathi situation.

The sun was beginning to disappear as the ship headed for Stormwind. As they started to get away from Kul Tiras, they were leaving the clouds behind as well, as if the time of the end of the world was typical of the place. Anduin sat on the steps of the ship next to Wrathion while rubbing his cold hands.

"Do you think N’Zoth is angry because we took Taelia away?" asked the king in a low voice.

"Maybe, or maybe it's one of his games. You never know with him until it happens."

"With us he uses Leo and with the Horde Zul, sometimes I find it hard to get used to the idea that he's involved in everything, but there is something that bothers me more."

"And is…?"

"That you keep hiding things from me." Wrathion looked at him confused. "Why didn't you tell me that G’huun is an old god too?" Wrathion raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"An old god..." he repeated with a sarcastic tone. "I told you that you wouldn't get anything out of that investigation."

"Then explain this to me." Anduin took Nazmir's report out of his pocket and gave it to him. Wrathion read it at overwhelming speed and when he finished, he chuckled. "What’s so funny?"

"He isn't an old god." the dragon leaned closer to Anduin and whispered. "But he believes he is one."

"Then what is G’huun?"

"The result of an experiment. You could say N’Zoth has him grabbed by the balls, if that bug had balls. He has a serious identity problem and has obviously been manipulated." Anduin was thoughtful, but before he said anything, Taelia approached.

"Sorry if I interrupt, but I remembered something from those days." Wrathion paid full attention, completely forgetting Anduin.

"Please, do tell."

"I remember seeing you." she pointed to Wrathion. "Several times, as if your presence was mixed in my memories, but I didn't have a good opinion of you."

"You probably saw me as an enemy."

"I saw you as some kind of loot." Wrathion sighed.

"Damn asshole... Well, thanks for clarifying how he sees me."

"I also remember talking to you, Anduin." he looked at her in surprise.

"What conversation?"

"I don't know, I only remember the action of talking to you sometimes. I hope I didn't tell you anything weird while being under control." Anduin almost blushed, didn't she really remember...?

"Anduin can tell you." said Wrathion, almost laughing.

"No." the king answered too quickly, resting his arm on the dragon's shoulder. "I mean, it wasn't anything important, really. You just have to thank Wrathion for realizing you had this and thanks to that we were able to save you."

"Actually." Wrathion cut in. "You should just thank Anduin. It's he who could save you, something I cannot do. If it was for me, I would have just killed you."

"Well, well." Anduin clarified. "But I couldn't save her if you hadn't told me any of this and showed me how I should do-"

"I thank you both, then." Taelia concluded.

Anduin didn't consider it a good idea to tell her now that N’Zoth offered him sex using her body, actually, he thought it's best to never say it and take that secret to the grave, as long as Wrathion didn't say so. The rest of the journey they spent it together. Anduin preferred to speak to Wrathion alone about G’huun but it was a good idea to try to explain to Taelia what happened after she was possessed.

Slowly they explained her days in black, the look of total confusion that Taelia had ended up disappearing. It was very strange for her all the revelations, it was as if she had awakened from a long nightmare that she couldn't even remember.

It was dark once they arrived at Stormwind. The city was quiet and most of the shops were closed, only a few taverns remained open. Anduin was able to quickly verify that the effects of the fire caused by the Horde when the Zandalaris escaped were no longer there, all the wood had been replaced and the city looked new. Upon arriving at the castle, Anduin offered Taelia one of the best guest rooms and that if she wanted anything she could call someone. Wrathion announced he wouldn't sleep at all and would be wandering around the city. Anduin asked him, or rather pleaded, to not get into trouble. But the dragon said he would be isolated from people.

Muradin welcomed the young king surprised, he hadn't been notified of the unexpected return. Anduin had to lie about some things, he couldn't say he fled from an old god so he brought up the subject of Arathi. After checking certain papers with the dwarf, they realized that they didn't have many troops in the Eastern Kingdoms, at least eighty percent had stayed, or perished, in Kul Tiras. If they wanted to consider defending their position in Arathi, then they would leave the cities empty of troops. It was also quickly found they barely had SI:7 agents in Stormwind. Those who weren't between Kul Tiras and Zandalar, and that was at least half of them, were scattered between continents in search of information. Despite that, they would send the few agents in the city to Arathi in the morning.

Anduin practiced before going to sleep until his energy ran out. He had to try to make that ball bigger and more powerful, however, although he could do the ball without much trouble, there was something that didn't allow him to go further. Maybe he wasn't doing it right, maybe the memory he used wasn't enough or the reasons for doing it weren't enough. Or maybe he wasn't good enough.

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Next morning, he was tremendously relieved when he found out Wrathion hadn't gotten into any fight. Part of him suspected he would have done it anyway, but the dragon spent the night up in a tree doing nothing. Once he had eaten breakfast, he called the SI:7 agents and gave them orders to go to Arathi as fast as they could. After this, he began to notice the absence of excuses for the rest of the day. He would probably have to get into tedious meetings with the nobles and church members because of the cuts, it was going to be a slow day.

In the end Anduin ended up praying in the Cathedral like he had never done before. He was mentally exhausted after so much talk. The nobles were pretty understandable and it was relatively easy to convince them, but the church members were passive-aggressive the whole time. It ended up surprising him that the reason wasn't for money, rather it was because they couldn't cope with all the wounded who arrived. The Light always came when one had faith, but most didn't have as much affinity to use it almost indefinitely. That used to happen because the person in question had a very obvious dark side. Anduin never had those problems, but he understood that it could annoy them if all the priests were exhausted in a short time or many others had to move to Kul Tiras and didn't have enough money for temporary replacements. Anduin suspected it wouldn't be the last time they would speak to him about this and he prayed to the Light to endow him with extraordinary patience.

Although if that wasn't enough, the news that they were beginning to have the dungeons saturated with criminals almost completely crushed him. As if there weren't enough problems, there were few cells left. The Azerite had been a big trigger for crime and, in more serious cases, for murder. Anduin was so focused on Kul Tiras that he thought he abandoned all these problems. The young king walked around the dungeons evaluating what he could do. One option was to move some to Ironforge. Another possibility was to bring them to Tol Dagor prison after getting Jaina's permission.

As he passed a full cell, he ended up stopping at the loneliest of all. There was the most important prisoner of all, Varok Saurfang. The orc was sitting leaning against the wall with his head down, he looked completely defeated. Anduin never spoke to him after the arrest, contrary to what he did to Wrathion. He didn't quite know the reason, he may have had a lot of respect for him because he was a legendary warrior. Varok looked up and stared at the king, he had a tired look. Anduin was still suspicious that there were problems within the Horde now that he saw him, and he considered asking him directly.

"You need something?" Anduin asked quietly. The orc sighed.

"There's nothing you can give me, young man."

"So, can I ask you a question?" Varok frowned. "Have you argued with Sylvanas?" there was a silence then, the orc took several seconds to evaluate.

"Why do you believe that?"

"Well, in Lordaeron you covered the other's withdrawal, only you. It doesn't make much sense to me and you looked quite grateful when we took you with us even though I didn't kill you and brought you here as a prisoner. I wouldn't let a warrior with so much experience just leave me like that, that's why I think you argued." the orc laughed lightly.

"Are you trying to get information?"

"No, I'm trying to make a better world."

"You won't make it while she's still there" Anduin sighed smiling.

"See? Something had happened between you."

Varok rose slowly, sighing. As soon as he crossed the little cell he had, he stood right in front of Anduin, only separated by the bars. The young king didn't move nor was intimidated, he was expectant.

"I've given everything for the Horde." Varok began almost whispering. "I did things that I never expected from me, I have seen things that you might not even believe. I came to lose too much, even my son... all for the Horde, honor, sense of pride and freedom to say that we are not slaves to anything or anyone, not even death." Varok grabbed the bars. "But it doesn't matter anymore, all the convictions that made me love my faction have been thrown into a well, it doesn't matter any more because Sylvanas wanted it that way. We have to do whatever it takes regardless of the things that made us call ourselves the Horde. Now we have only become our most dishonorable enemies, a new plague without honor. If that is the future of the Horde, if that is what we will be, I don't want to be part of it."

Anduin understood this well. All the principles Varok had defended, Sylvanas spat on them. He understood why the orc asked for a clean death, he didn't want to see how the Horde kept being trampled. This is how Anduin felt the times he had been on a battlefield, as if moving his sword to attack someone was killing one of his convictions he had defended so much and wanted to abandon the task as soon as possible. Anduin sighed calmly.

"Did you confront Sylvanas that day?"

"I think you can imagine what happened, lion cub."

"Will you help me stop her then?" Varok laughed lightly.

"You are all corrupted by power, the Alliance is no exception. You want the same but with a different color. I already saw that happening some time ago, I don't intend to be part of it either." Anduin fell back several meters, Varok made it clear.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not like that. But if you need something, ask for it." the young king turned around ready to leave.

"Anduin." the young king turned around. Varok stepped back into the shadow of the cell. "There are others in the Horde who don't agree with her either."

Anduin frowned. Varok retreated completely into the cell and said nothing else. Who wouldn't agree with the current state of the Horde? The only person that crossed his mind was Baine. He knew well that the leader of the tauren was one of the most honorable nowadays and surely wouldn't agree with Sylvanas' methods, but other than him, he couldn't think of another. The internal fights in the Horde may have been worse than he had originally supposed. But for now, he would keep this little secret for himself.

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Next day he woke up in an unusual cold. At that time of year, it shouldn’t be cold, but the city was shaking. Anduin considered staying in bed if it wasn’t because he had letters waiting for him. After getting dressed, he went out to face any bad news people might give him.

A letter was from Tess. Dereck probably asked her for help in the end. As soon as he read it, he saw that the situation in Kul Tiras was somewhat delicate. Leo had stayed in the Proudmoore Keep waiting for Anduin to return because he wanted to make some kind of deal for peace and didn't like Anduin had simply left. The young king couldn't imagine what N’Zoth was up to with all this. It was obvious that he knew Anduin could do the ritual to a person, but why stay there? Would he expose himself and attack as soon as they saw each other? Wrathion said N’Zoth wanted to remain hidden, what was the plan really? Was the old god specifically going after him?

A second missive also came and was just as troubling. The agents who arrived in Arathi quickly sent him a small report of the place. Indeed the Forsaken and the Sin’dorei were in the area and other races were joining. They were hoarding Arathi's resources and intercepting Alliance floats. Although it was only a first report, it was discouraging enough.

Anduin spent that morning with Taelia mostly. She kept trying to remember but hadn't been very successful. The young king took her to various interesting places in the city, especially the ones Bolvar used to go while explaining some anecdotes, such as when Anduin fell asleep in a tavern and Bolvar had to carry him to bed. She was pretty calm now and enjoyed seeing and discovering the city.

Taelia would wander on her own for a while and Anduin told her that if she wanted anything he would be near Olivia's Pond with Wrathion. He wanted to tell the dragon about the news he had received and talk about what N’Zoth could do there. After a long walk, he came to the end of the pond where there was no one but Wrathion. The dragon was lying on the grass with his eyes closed. As Anduin approached, the dragon waved at him. A small white kitty peeked out meowing under Wrathion's scarf.

"I start to think you just call them." Anduin said.

"I already told you they come alone to me." Anduin sat next to him and carefully took the kitty, the animal licked Anduin's finger.

"Do you like animals in general?"

"Who doesn't like animals?"

"I know people who don't."

"That's because they're idiots."

Anduin laughed. Sometimes he preferred to talk to the dragon when his work was too much or after attending meetings, Anduin began to realize he liked to talk or play with Wrathion very much. While Anduin petted the cat, he told him the relevant things he had heard during the day. Under the dragon's watchful eye, he explained that N’Zoth was waiting for him at the Proudmoore Keep and he couldn't guess the plan. However, Wrathion also couldn't imagine what N'Zoth had in mind and looked concerned as well. Maybe it was a very convoluted plan or it was the simplest thing in the world, with N’Zoth you could never know.

Anduin also explained to him about his conversation with Varok Saurfang and shared his belief that the Horde was fracturing inside. Wrathion laughed upon hearing that.

"The Horde with internal problems including betrayals? Wow! I would never have imagined it coming from them with how united they have always been! Who would have guessed!?" the sarcastic tone made Anduin laugh.

"It's like this is familiar, isn't it?"

"Anyway." Wrathion picked up a stone. "Then we will ask ourselves why N’Zoth preferred to focus the manipulation on them and not on the Alliance." he threw the stone to the water. "It's quite understandable he had two people under control in Kul Tiras, he needs to watch the Alliance, and if one person in Kul Tiras can free people of his control..."

"Speaking of which, I don't know if I can deal with Leo." Wrathion threw another stone into the water.

"Why?"

"Since then, I have been practicing. It's not like I can't do it well, it's just I think I can't do it better. I cannot make it more powerful. Maybe that's my limit." Wrathion said nothing for a few seconds.

"Are you sure you can't?" Anduin frowned slightly and shrugged. "You're not even sure. I want you to give me a demonstration in a place no one can see us."

Anduin didn't understand what that was about. These past few days he had tried it enough times to make him realize he couldn't. If the brain parasite was as small as Taelia's, there was a chance, but if it was months Anduin couldn't make such a big ball, he had no power. Anduin rubbed his arms as Wrathion let the cat climb his arm to his shoulder as they discussed Varok's words. Taelia appeared there after a few minutes rubbing her hands and Anduin greeted her.

"Is it always this cold in Stormwind?" Taelia asked. Anduin denied.

"Not at all, it's one of those weird days."

"I remembered something about the voice in the dark that day." both young people paid attention while Taelia sat next to the dragon.

"What did it say?"

"Well, I don't remember the exact words but... It was something about my father."

"What?" they both said at the same time.

"Yes, it was something like 'I can take you with him, he's alive' I think, and I said I agreed because I thought it was a dream and wanted to know the truth. After that everything is in black."

"But..." Anduin tried to say softly. "Your father is..."

"Dead, I know, I don't remember what else it said to me. I remember that day in pictures. Talk to you," she pointed to Anduin. "then I talked to Jaina a lot, then at the bar with my colleagues I got bitten by a bug."

"What do you mean a bug bit you?" Wrathion asked.

"Yes, it's normal out there." the dragon frowned. "Then I felt very bad and went to sleep and I remember that voice saying something about my father. I'm sorry if it's not very helpful, I feel bad about all this."

"It's okay." Wrathion calmed. "You're just a victim, so don't feel bad."

"I hope we can be friends now, without manipulation."

"Of course!" Anduin exclaimed.

Part of the rest of the day was spent strolling back and forth together until Anduin was called in for a small meeting in the afternoon. What must have been a short meeting ended up taking longer than expected.

A representative of the workers had to speak to him about the constant changes, in various sectors the worker was still being treated as a slave because of bosses who wanted more gold to survive the war. Apart from that, he also demanded some security. Lately many carriers have been ambushed, both by the Horde and by nameless bandits. Anduin ended up with a headache, it wasn't as if he could afford to send soldiers to escort trade caravans when they were all off the continent and had to defend new points, but defending resource-packed caravans was just as important. Anduin ended up deciding to send the new recruits for such a task, so they would earn some experience before a real battle.

After a nice dinner and saying goodbye to Taelia, Anduin took Wrathion before going to sleep. He led the dragon to the back of the castle where, after opening a door, they found themselves in an open-air corridor. The grass was several meters down, but Anduin, in the middle of the darkness, clung to the wall and began to descend. Wrathion stared curiously from above. Anduin took a small leap into the grass and motioned him to follow. The dragon, with a jump, fell without any problem and followed the king as they began to climb a slope to the mountains. Anduin stopped when he reached flat ground between two trees and looked at Wrathion raising his hands.

"This is my secret place."

"It's no longer so secret if you show it to me." Anduin laughed a little.

"When I was little I used to hide here to read or play with my imagination."

"My, my, you usually came here when you felt rebellious, what would the people think of the little prince?"

"I wasn't rebellious, you idiot." he clarified smiling. "It's just that sometimes I wanted to be alone and distract myself."

"How about playing with other children?"

"I had no friends at that time, between my responsibilities and the kind of childhood I had I couldn't make friends." Anduin looked away. "I wasn't really very good at making them either."

"I see... Why did you bring me?"

"I wanted to be outdoors, didn't you want a demonstration?"

They both sat on the grass in front of each other. The soft wind blew the leaves of the trees and carried the noise of the city away. Anduin made the ball effortlessly when it came to combining powers, but it was only an inch bigger than when he freed Taelia. As much as he tried to make it bigger and more powerful in the last days, it was impossible. Anduin looked at Wrathion.

"This is my limit."

"You're still quite tense, I don't see you very calm."

"It may be because I can't do it better."

"No, precisely with these powers you have to be as calm as possible, otherwise you will never get the full potential. Your state is very influential, plus you're admitting you don't really trust your ability to do better."

"Hey." Anduin made the ball disappear. "I'm pretty sure of my limitations. I just think I'm not good enough for this."

"And I think you underestimate yourself too much, Anduin." the young king was about to reply, but closed his mouth when he saw Wrathion's serious expression. "A small question, what memory do you usually use to calm yourself?"

"Well... I usually think about the day my father returned." Wrathion was thoughtful.

"I don't think that's enough."

"Why?"

"Because it's not helping you enough. You probably have a more powerful one even if you aren't aware of it."

"Why are you so sure I can?"

"Anduin..." Wrathion sighed. "You can do something that practically no one can do nowadays, you can ignore all prejudices and achieve this, you have come very far already. I've seen you accomplish something you thought was impossible, so why couldn't you go any further? I know you have what it takes, your affinity for these powers is very good, you always end up getting it in the end. You just need a little push and more security in yourself." Anduin didn't know what to say, he stared at Wrathion somewhat doubtful. It was true that lately he had lost security and may have been affecting him more than he thought. "Look, regarding the memory that you should choose... It has to be that special moment of your life that is not conditioned by someone, it's something that has to be very personal and only concerns you. That memory you turn to when everything goes wrong because thinking about it can make you happy, or that moment that makes you nostalgic because it was so perfect for you. Something that emotionally has a very big effect."

Anduin frowned while thinking about it. He didn't have many memories that were like that, his childhood was chaos everywhere and he really didn't have an adolescence. A pleasant breeze passed between them and crickets began chirping very close. A memory began to float among others, one that was similar to the feeling he had now.

Three years ago, during his stay in Pandaria, there was one night he sneaked out of the tavern. Wrathion was with him back then too. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was sleeping, they went out under a starry night and contemplated the Valley of the Four Winds from above. Wrathion told him the story of Pandaria and things he had seen on trips, and Anduin told him the constellations and stories behind it. Anduin could still feel the summer breeze from the place and an exotic scent that was always present. Of the many things he learned there, one important was how much he liked the taste of relaxation and how much he had wanted a friend and openly talked about anything without fearing to be judged or questioned. Sometimes he and Wrathion might not coincide, but they respected each other. Without a doubt, he had kept those memories of Pandaria with the biggest possible affection.

Anduin let the sensation invade him, without a doubt those times were above any other when it comes to the emotional. When he made the ball once more, it came out much more fluid than other times, the powers were as calm as he was. Anduin began to think that anything, magic, using elements or using energies, had more to do with the emotional state of oneself than the power you had. He tried to trust more that he could do it and change his mind, after all, it was true that he had a big affinity for it. The ball went higher and Anduin was surprised, although he had to concentrate immediately to avoid letting the whispers overcome. In a few seconds, he made a ball bigger than his hand, but it grew more and more without being able to manipulate it correctly. It ended up being too big and Anduin had to cut right away.

"Well," the king began. "I think I can do it. Although I need to control it doesn't get too big."

"I told you, you stubborn."

"Ha! You’re the last person who should call me that." Wrathion forced a smile at him.

"You had to use a memory that makes you very happy, what was it?" Anduin looked aside.

"I was thinking of Pandaria." Wrathion cocked his head. "That time was special. Of course there was a battle going on and many things at stake, but for me it was the only time I could feel without any bondage. I was still quite idealistic. That accompanied with the Pandaren culture, of which I'm still amazed, and a land to explore... I was so excited..." Anduin's expression suddenly became nostalgic and somewhat sad. "Sometimes I think I'll never feel like that again. As if all that was just a dream and when I wake up I only find war, misery and a lot of stress."

"You will never know where life will take you." Anduin noticed Wrathion was more serious than usual. "Maybe you will feel something so special again someday. In the meantime, use those happy memories to fill the void. I do it."

"What memories do you use to fill the void?"

Wrathion was absolutely silent as he stared at Anduin. The sound of the crickets was so overwhelming that the king felt nervous. Wrathion smiled slightly as he stood up and offered his hand to Anduin, who took it, and was easily lifted.

"I'm not going to tell you." Anduin frowned at that.

"Oh, come on, tell me."

"No."

"Are you ashamed to tell me?"

"Don't you have to go to sleep early like good children?"

Anduin punched Wrathion's shoulder several times in a friendly way as they made their way to the castle again. In the end Wrathion said nothing and Anduin ended up frustrated with him while pouting at him. Although the young king was unable to actually reproach the dragon for anything, he had helped him too much.

Wrathion couldn't tell him anything because he felt a little shy about confessing something like that. Telling that Anduin himself was the focus of all his few good memories wasn't something he was going to admit in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I knew Bolvar had a daughter I wanted to write something like Anduin showing all the places Bolvar liked to Taelia, this was time ago tho.  
Like Anduin, I miss Pandaria a lot too :( what a land


	17. The puppet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope your lockdown isn't making you depressed, let's see if I can provide some distraction.  
Again, sorry for grammar mistakes and all

Every training went well. Anduin spent two days practicing. In his secret place with Wrathion by his side, he managed to do things he believed impossible. Before, he couldn't make big balls, but now they were too big. On one occasion it came out almost as big as them and things around reacted somewhat strangely when Anduin cut it. Parts of grass were left with pieces of the Void and Light with which the young king spent hours trying to eliminate. Slowly, Anduin was making balls the size of his head and making sure they stayed that way. Apart from that, he also improved a lot with the powers individually each one on his own, they came out so fluid that Anduin didn't have to think. The mental effort was exhausting though. Treating primal energies equally without letting out a prejudice that could make the whispers take control, be calm, don't get nervous, the emotional state should be serene, not let worries occupy all his attention... At the end of the two days, Anduin was exhausted, but the feeling of accomplishing something like that was so gratifying that he didn’t mind it. Now Anduin was sure he could save Leo. The only thing he wondered was what plan N’Zoth had or what he would say once he was in front of him. If the old god was really after Anduin, Wrathion said it was best that he stays behind and doesn't face him directly.

Some letters began to demand Anduin back to Boralus, apparently Leo was complicating things. Genn, Turalyon, Tyrande and especially Jaina asked him to come back as soon as possible. It was ironic to him now that they asked him to be there when at first they didn't want to. Leo and his followers were making themselves too comfortable at the Proudmoore Keep and nobody was going to kick them out because N’Zoth convinced them that he wanted peace and to be part of them. Obviously they believed it, they didn't suspect at all that an old god was there. They discussed the situation with Taelia without revealing the enemy was an old god. Wrathion, in an art of lies, told her that the one who mentally controlled her was in Boralus now and maybe he was doing the same with Leo. Taelia, without hesitation, made it clear that she had an 'unfinished business' with whoever it was and would help them, but Wrathion asked her that the best thing would be to remain on the sidelines because the enemy was someone dangerous.

As soon as Anduin was able to calm his affairs with the church and the representative of the workers, he began to consider leaving Stormwind in the afternoon and put an end to the last possessed person in Kul Tiras.

After a small chat with Muradin to send the few troops he could afford to support the position in Arathi, Anduin announced that he was leaving at once despite some people still wanting to argue. He didn't know exactly what was worse, the demands on Boralus or Stormwind. At least he had a small guarantee that things in Boralus were going to end at last.

The sea was a little rough and the wind was against them. Anduin and Wrathion sat together in the bow and the water kept splashing on them. They were able to be alone and talk about what to do.

"I'm going to flank." Wrathion said. "I'll try to catch him by surprise. On the other hand, you're going to talk to him first."

"But if he came there for me, shouldn't I stay on the sidelines?"

"When it comes to fighting. As soon as you set foot in Boralus everyone will know that you're there, you cannot avoid that and obviously he'll want to talk to you immediately."

"And what do I say?"

"N'Zoth wanted to talk about I don't know what peace with the Alliance, right? Well, pretend you're going to listen, entertain him with that while I position myself. I hope his power over the Void isn't too much."

"What if enough time has passed for it to be too much?"

"Well, you’ll have to pray a little then." Anduin frowned.

"You're aware that everyone will find out this, right?" Wrathion sighed.

"I guess I can't keep a secret that long."

"I know that N’Zoth will change plans and-"

"His plans have changed since you saved Taelia, that's why we are in this position now. Doing something simple can be a solution and it could end quickly without anything to regret."

"The truth is that it surprises me you don't play with him considering how you are."

"To play?" Wrathion looked at him confused.

"Yes, I thought you would play with the controlled ones a little before hitting them. I was surprised at how quickly you acted with Taelia." Wrathion smiled wryly.

"I once played around with one and I paid a high price for that." Wrathion became serious. "Never again."

Anduin was tempted to ask what happened, but there was something about the dragon's expression that made him shut up. Wrathion always put on the same face when talking about himself in the past, a mix between sadness and anger.

They arrived in Boralus in the middle of the afternoon once Anduin armed himself with his sword. They were close to the Alliance's official ship so Mathias and Halford were the first to receive them and ask a thousand questions, although Anduin dodged the matter a bit by asking Halford if he was completely fine. Wrathion quickly left to find a good angle to attack as Leo was still inside the Keep. That was probably going to be somewhat problematic, they had to take him outside. The best option was a small square at the back of the building. Anduin went to the Keep with Mathias trying to be as calm as he could and thinking of what he should say. He had to entertain N'Zoth a bit until Wrathion managed to flank. Before he got there, Tess and Dereck blocked his path.

"Anduin," Tess called. "what the hell is going on? And you better go straight to the point." Anduin raised his hands as if trying to stop her.

"It's a long story, you'll know anyway in a few minutes. I need you to tell me a couple of things."

"You're the one who should tell me a couple of things."

"But this is important, where is Leo? Are his followers still here?"

"They're entrenched here, rather. They're annoying and everyone wants them to leave. I guess you saw all those pushy letters, especially the thousands that Jaina sent."

"I know, I'll talk to him now. Can you tell him to come to the back of the Keep? The square called Proudmoore Academy." Tess blinked confused. "I want to be outdoors."

"But... What is all about?"

"If you convince him then you will see what happens. A suggestion, go armed."

Tess and Dereck looked at each other totally confused, but quickly moved to the Keep. Anduin surrounded the Keep while Mathias asked him if he should call some soldiers, suspecting that it would end in a big fight, but the young king insisted everything would be relatively controlled. Even if he was pretending to be confident in front of Mathias, he was concerned. Wrathion had gone into hiding to ambush him at the right time but if Leo's followers were corrupt he might need some help, Anduin still didn't know exactly what was going to happen.

As soon as they reached the suggested square, Anduin took a deep breath and tried to calm all the nerves and doubts. If N’Zoth was going to play, he had to be prepared. The only thing that doubted was how the others would take it. If N’Zoth uses the powers of the Void through Leo it would catch everyone off guard, Anduin didn't warn at all.

Within minutes, quite a few people gathered at the scene. Aside from some curious eyes that didn't represent authority, various Alliance leaders attended such as Turalyon, Alleria, and Genn. Only Katherine and Brother Pike, who seemed to have seen better days, attended on the side of Kul Tiras. Although now that Anduin realized it, everyone looked tired. Leo looked the same and at least a dozen followers were by his side with the most lost eyes in the world. Leo stopped a couple of meters from Anduin and smiled at him wryly.

"I thought you would not return." his childish voice sounded very happy.

"I had important matters to attend to. Why have you decided to come?" Anduin asked, being unfriendly.

"Don't be rude, I come in peace."

"After all my visits, do you want to talk now?"

"Consider it a vote of confidence, I was very indecisive. Between you and me, having the full support of the Storm’s Wake is the best for you. Only in return, as you promised the others, I want some protection."

"I don't know, what if I say no now?"

Anduin could see Genn's face saying 'What are you playing at?' and then he noticed that everyone was looking at him with unusual confusion. Leo's followers began to spread out around the square a little, putting Leo and Anduin in a circle, as if they didn't want someone to come closer. Leo smiled, cocking his head.

"Do you reject me because my rejection bothered you?"

"No, I said it because I want you to tell me the truth."

"The truth is that. The last time we saw each other I rejected you because I didn't trust you, that's why I said those things. But as usual, reality changes and that's why I formally ask for the union." Anduin sighed slowly.

"Actually, that wasn't the last thing I heard coming from you." Anduin sneakily saw Wrathion, he was ready. "The last thing you said to me was 'good choice, a place where people don't usually go'."

Leo's smile started to drop and remained stunned, like if he was analyzing what he had just heard. He rolled his eyes as if inspecting the sky for something and then smiled mysteriously at Anduin, stepped back, and made an exaggerated bow. When he rose his head, his eyes turned redder than he saw in Taelia and he had the physiology of a fish even more exaggerated and marked.

"Welcome to the game."

As he said that, his voice was changing, Anduin had heard it in Taelia too. In Leo's hand, shadows began to emerge uncontrollably ready to attack. However, instead of attacking Anduin, he turned around and, from a purple tentacle that came out of his hand, hooked Wrathion in the air and stamped him on the ground causing it to tremble. Leo laughed lightly.

"You are so predictable." said N’Zoth’s evil voice. "I knew you were going to come running to me! You always do it! Where have you been, my little whelp? _Brragla shkul Shath’mag, gaz_!"

After the words in Shath’Yar, the followers began to act strange, it was as if they had an epilepsy attack. Anduin drew his sword. Those humans began to change, what they looked like now was as if an octopus had taken the place of their heads, it was a horrible appearance. That aspect stuck to the descriptions in the first letters about the Stormsong Valley, when champions described people under the influence of the Void, only now he understood that it was under the influence of N’Zoth.

_All the Light fades and dies._

Anduin looked in the direction of that voice. One of the followers said that in the middle of the transformation.

_Plahf gag Shath’gral._

_The circle... I see the circle!_

_Ag uovssh u’fssh._

Anduin didn't understand what was going on in his head. He was hearing the language of the old gods and he could understand some sentences perfectly, others were just incomprehensible words. Why was that happening to him? He was almost unable to react when one of them rushed to attack him, but Anduin was able to dodge in time and confronted him.

Some people were armed and immediately on guard, but others were completely helpless against the followers. Mathias moved quickly along with Genn, who transformed into a worgen, and they put themselves between the enemies and the helpless. Katherine behind them led a few back to the Keep. Turalyon and Alleria fought back to back and didn't seem to have much difficulty, but the unpredictable movements of some and the powers of the Void made it difficult to stay in position.  
  


Wrathion rose from the ground, all the stone had cracked and a trickle of blood poured from the dragon's nose. He looked at Leo with special anger, the kid was smiling widely and gestured with both hands for him to get closer. Wrathion didn't think twice to jump and attack once again.

When N’Zoth's power and Wrathion's magic collided, the air thinned, as if it was much heavier. They both surrounded each other between fire and shadows but Leo didn't let them touch him, he surrounded himself in an impenetrable shield of shadows. He had much more power than Wrathion had imagined.

  
Anduin found that Wrathion's fighting lessons were quite good. Against the dragon, he could never knock him down, but against N’Zoth’s followers it was much easier. When he fought one, he easily dodged the attacks and repealed any shadow with Light. As soon as Anduin saw an opportunity, he hit him on the left shoulder with the sword, grabbed him by the right shoulder and knocked him down without difficulty. Immediately the sword went through his chest. Never before had Anduin knocked someone down so easily and the realization came to him, Wrathion was probably his best fighting master. Anduin teamed up with Tess and Dereck against a few followers. Both spies were fine with all the teamwork experience they shared, the problem they had was to repel the shadows and suffered damage, but now Anduin and his power over the Light would equal things. They never fought together before, but they coordinated well. Anduin with the Light could keep them at bay every time someone tried to do something strange and could ease the fatigue of his companions. Dereck was extremely skilled with daggers and could leave anyone totally helpless and Tess took the advantage to deliver final blows.

Most of the followers died and those who had more ties to the Void remained, all of their techniques required to reach the peak of madness to apply them and it was difficult to reach them.

Wrathion was thrown out by a tentacle and broke through a stone wall. Although it didn't look like the dragon was hurt, he was tired. Alleria tried to enter the circle of shadows N'Zoth created, but not even she could enter, it was done so meticulously that it left Wrathion isolated.

"My dear little one, what have you done? Destroying things in your path?" Leo walked towards him. "Should I go after someone else besides you again?" Wrathion roared and got up again.

Anduin began to see strange things when he turned his attention to Leo. The powers emanating from him were crazy, it was too much for a child, he was much more powerful than could be expected. When he freed Taelia, Anduin thought he saw a shadow behind her, but in Leo it was clearer. It wasn't a shadow, it was the figure of some kind of red-eyed monster, he could see it clearly behind Leo's back as if it was his own shadow. But worse than that, was that he could see the manipulation. The red-eyed figure was the puppeteer and Leo the puppet, it was quite disturbing to see for him.

As soon as Genn and Tess delivered the final blow to the last follower, N’Zoth, with several tentacles, stamped Wrathion against a wall that collapsed and left the dragon buried. Leo moved toward them, summoning more tentacles. Turalyon was the first to try to attack, but he was pushed aside by a tentacle as if he was a fly. Several tentacles came out and rooted some people. Leo raised his hand to father and daughter. A shadow ball was shot towards them but Anduin put himself in the middle creating a Light shield. When both powers collided they instantly banished and the young king fell to the ground because of the impact, an annoying tingling ran through his arms. Leo looked at Anduin curiously tilting his head to the side and laughed a little.

"Ah, the cub." N’Zoth said it as if it was funny. "I have to admit you have more guts than I had imagined. Honestly speaking, when you freed the other, I was very surprised, I wasn't expecting it at all!" he raised his hand again, pointing at Anduin. "Too bad you can't do more than free someone who was in my control for a few days."

"N’ZOTH!" Wrathion came out of the rubble gasping and took a few steps forward. Leo looked at him as Wrathion pointed to himself. "I remind you that you have come for me."

Leo frowned slightly and looked at Anduin again, then at Wrathion and once more at Anduin. Suddenly his expression changed as if he had had the most important revelation of his life and he smiled widely.

"It was this! Now I understand!" he looked at Wrathion. "_Ma a’bthna killi_."

Anduin could see the change on Wrathion's face, he was totally alarmed. All of N’Zoth's attention was turned to Wrathion, completely forgetting the rest by hiding in a wall of shadows.

"If I get to know this before..." N’Zoth said, very worried. "Oh, dear little one, it will be a torment for you, so much that I would like to help you to cope with it, I don't want you to suffer like this."

Leo made a movement of his hands and tried to root Wrathion, but he slipped away at the last moment. Even if he heard many disturbing things that same day, Anduin found even more disturbing the fact that N’Zoth had been speaking with some affection to Wrathion the entire fight, as if he was a friend who cared a lot about him.

One of the tentacles caught the dragon's leg and threw him to the ground, several tentacles came out and immobilized him. As much as Wrathion tried to free himself, it was impossible. With a small jump, Leo landed on the dragon's chest and raised his hand.

"You are mine... I have you now..." N’Zoth said it so seriously that it was scary.

"Hey! Your!"

Leo turned his head in the direction of the voice. Anduin widened his eyes when he saw Taelia with what looked like a firearm that she could hardly hold. Taelia aimed at Leo and pulled the trigger. A small blue bullet came out, leaving a trail of very bright blue and pierced the shadows. The shoot hit Leo's arm and pushed him a meter away from Wrathion. Everyone thought she had killed him, but Leo put a hand to the impacted area and had an expression of pure pain.

Wrathion, with fire, removed the tentacles that had caught him and released himself. Leo tried to get up, but all the shadows weakened as he lost concentration and looked somewhat disoriented. Wrathion ran to him and punched him in the belly, Leo fell down totally paralyzed. All the shadows began to disappear and the people who had been rooted moved freely.

"I already told you once that it was a bad idea to control children... Anduin!" Wrathion called and gestured for him to come closer. "You have to do it now."

Anduin clenched his fists and moved closer. Leo was still on the ground writhing in pain and couldn’t move. A blow from Wrathion, to a human body of that age, must have been too much to bear. Wrathion held Leo and Anduin started to make the ball. When he was ready to remove the parasite, something began to go wrong in his mind. The ball didn't stay in a fixed size, especially it tended to be bigger than it should be and lost concentration between whispers.

"Anduin." Wrathion called. They looked at each other. "You can, you can do this perfectly."

The young king took a long breath. He forced himself to do it for the common good. He silenced all the whispers and took control of his concentration. The ball stayed the same size as Leo's head and Anduin moved it closer to begin the ritual. Leo began to scream in agony and tried to resist, but Wrathion had him immobilized. Anduin began to feel pain in his hands, as if his skin was completely cracking and he believed that at any moment his hands would fall apart. Despite that he didn't stop, he had to get that parasite out. Just as he saw in Taelia, Leo also had the same dark purple lines coming out of his head and into his mouth, and the parasite began to poke its head out. Like the last time, as soon as the parasite touched the Light, everything was suddenly cut off. Leo instantly fainted and the ball of Light and Void vanished. Wrathion took out the dagger he always carried and killed the parasite that was trying to flee. It was bigger and more defined than Taelia's, was at least as big as the entire palm of one hand, and looked like a small squid.

Anduin began to lose his balance and suddenly found himself terribly ill, much worse than last time. His head was burning and the pain in his chest came more intensely, he thought he couldn't breathe. Losing all the strength in his legs, he staggered forward and started to fall, but Wrathion caught him before he hit the ground and Anduin hugged him.

"Light... Ugh..." Anduin held on tight to Wrathion's clothes.

"It's over, you can rest." Wrathion moved so they sat down and lowered his voice. "You did very well, you have all my respect. You have more power than you think."

"Anduin!" the young king turned to see Genn running to him, as soon as he was close, he could see that the wolf had a face of total confusion. "You can start to speak very loud and very clearly." Anduin looked at Wrathion.

"I told you we would have to give explanations..." he said in a rough voice.

"What a light show." Tess added behind her father.

"It was this?" Taelia asked once she reached them. "Is this exactly what happened to me? Did you also do this with me? Get... that out?" she pointed out the parasite. Wrathion nodded.

"Yes, it was this." Wrathion looked at Taelia with some surprise. "It was a good idea to use Azerite."

"Oh, that... obviously I didn't use a real bullet, a rubber ball was enough, that and adding Azerite for power."

"Well it was ingenious, we just showed that the Azerite can be more powerful than the shadows."

"Leo!" Brother Pike ran to pick up the little boy, very worried. "Is he dead? What did you do to him? What happened to him?"

"He is unconscious, he will be the same before he was possessed." Wrathion replied. "He will wake up in a few days... and then he will regret the day he was born."

"Wrathion..." Anduin called dropping his head on the dragon's shoulder. "Can you help me? I need to take something, I feel terrible."

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Despite all the questions asked, between Anduin feeling he would faint at any moment and Wrathion being indifferent to everyone's demands, there were no answers for anyone at the moment. Pike and Taelia took Leo to a bed in the emergency room and treated his wounds. Genn and Wrathion almost carried Anduin into his room as Tess, Dereck, and Mathias followed. Once in the room, Anduin lay down and tried to relax by taking a pain pill. After a couple of glasses of water, he started to feel a little better, but he had a throbbing pain in his head and felt like a sword was stuck in his chest.

Anduin and Wrathion tried to explain without entering into much details what was happening: N’Zoth being a global threat, the Azerite, the controlled people that they saved, what Anduin had to learn and that their path now left them against Zul and Azshara. Everyone was very surprised with these revelations and at first they didn't assimilate it well, but with the proof they just saw in Leo and the parasite that Wrathion was now showing, they understood it more or less. Genn walked through the room nervously from side to side.

"Okay, okay, okay." the old wolf murmured trying to assimilate. "Okay." he reached the wall and turned around again. "Okay, okay." he looked at Anduin. "And why haven't you said this before? Not a hint or anything?"

"I wasn't sure of doing it, in addition, Wrathion said the best thing would be that nobody knew so we wouldn't raise suspicions. I also didn't know how to explain it."

"Well, explaining it, Anduin, explaining it well, with all the nouns, verbs, articles, prepositions and everything else. And if necessary with smoke signals, then so it be, but these things should be explained! Son of a... And you." he pointed to Wrathion. "If you tempt him again to keep a secret like that... Look, I better don't tell you what I will do to you." Wrathion raised his eyebrow, indifferent.

"One thing is sure." Mathias began. "Everyone should know about this threat. It's not as if we are dealing with a fight against the Horde. We are talking about something as dangerous as the Burning Legion."

"I agree." Anduin answered, resting his back on the bed's headboard. "I was thinking of an emergency meeting, in a while as I feel better, with all the leaders and representatives of the Alliance."

"Do you want me to start spreading the word?" Anduin nodded. "I'm on it." Mathias went out the door.

"Are you feeling better?" Wrathion asked Anduin, he nodded.

"And now what should we do?" Dereck wanted to know. "If Taelia and Leo are no longer under control, where are we going now with all this mess?"

"I would go after Zul." Wrathion replied looking aside. "Azshara is currently missing, but we know Zul is in Nazmir with the blood trolls and G’huun. It would be my option." everyone was thoughtful.

"It's a good option." Anduin agreed.

"Wait a moment." Genn cut in. "Now that I realize, if you were going to do all this from the beginning, why did you leave a few days ago? I mean, you haven't told me this yet."

"I wasn't prepared, since N'Zoth was after me I had to practice the ritual well."

"I disagree with that." Tess interrupted capturing everyone's gaze. "I think his plan wasn't to finish you, Anduin, in fact, now that I think about it, he never really attacked you. He attacked him from the start." she pointed at Wrathion. Now that she had mentioned it, Anduin realized that too. Wrathion sighed.

"You're right." confirmed the dragon. "It's true, he wasn't there for Anduin, he was there for me. His plan was to capture me."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Anduin wanted to know, feeling cheated.

"Because I didn't want you to expose yourself too much."

"But... Why does an old god want to capture you?" Genn wanted to know.

"N’Zoth and I… Well, we have been several years thwarting each other’s plans, it's normal that he wants to capture me. He came here putting more Void power into Leo because his arrogance didn't warn him that Anduin could save the boy. I'm convinced he didn't expect Anduin to improve on such a complex technique in such a short time and screwed up. Honestly, fuck him, it was about time he lost something. The only bad thing is he will be careful now with Anduin, I already heard him welcoming him when he understood that Anduin wanted to play."

"One thing." Anduin grabbed Wrathion's head with his hands and turned it to face him. "Hide something like this from me again and I won't help you anymore, okay?" Wrathion was silent for a few seconds.

"Will you forgive me if we later celebrate that the ritual went well?"

Anduin just looked aside even though he wanted to say yes.

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After a quiet dinner, the proposed meeting happened. Some leaders who hadn't witnessed what happened, such as Jaina or Velen, were surprised when they found out. Although Anduin had quite recovered from the headache, the chest pain was still too much. He felt weak and airless, he didn't know how he was going to handle the meeting considering that it would be him and Wrathion who would speak.

The largest room in the Proudmoore Keep was the used one, there was a large wooden table in the center and, as the leaders arrived, the chairs were occupied. Anduin and Wrathion sat at the end of the table as if they were the hosts. Genn stayed close to them. From the dwarves' council, only Moira and Falstad could attend, they should tell Muradin through letters or send someone to explain it. Tyrande assisted by leaning on Malfurion, Anduin realized that she looked better now but was concerned for the situation. Others who weren't racial leaders, like Tess, Katherine or Mathias, attended because they had been involved.

Wrathion started the explanation with the truth about the Azerite, how N’Zoth put its essence and manipulated the mind just by touching it and how Sylvanas fell into that trap and the attacks between factions began. Anduin realized he quite omitted the reasons why he went to Stormwind and only said that he sought information and made the deal with Anduin. He wasn't surprised Wrathion was hiding things and noticed a certain inner smile as he was the only one who knew it. Then Wrathion spoke about how N’Zoth’s prison was beginning to fall and the controlled ones, used only to add more fuel to the conflict.

"I don't understand that part about Leo." Genn said. "If what N’Zoth wanted was to use Leo to make us fight and to fuel the conflict, why did he insist so much on kicking us out of Kul Tiras?"

"I will ask you a question, did you leave or did you insist on talking to Leo?" Genn blinked and Wrathion sighed leaning back in the chair. "It is a very subtle way to manipulate. He doesn’t only spoke to you, he also spoke to Sylvanas, most likely. If I have to guess, from what I found when I arrived, I would say he tricked her somehow into transporting the Horde army into the Valley. Then, he tricked you into believing that he didn't want the Alliance there. That made you all visit him more often and realized the presence of the Horde and of course, you all fell into the trap immediately. You thought the Horde might attack your new friends and you went to war."

"Why a battle in the Valley?" Velen asked. "Why at that time?"

"Because N'Zoth was watching and evaluating you closely." everyone looked at Wrathion confused. "Last year, with the Burning Legion's invasion, N’Zoth learned something valuable that Sargeras didn't see; If the Horde and Alliance cooperate, they can accomplish things that seem impossible, such as defeating the Burning Legion. The first thing he did as soon as his prison moved was to separate you into a manipulated war, and dammit if it worked out. What he wanted with the battle of the Valley was to evaluate the military powers of each faction, being aware that you didn't have everything there, of course. He managed to kill hundreds of people that day and weaken both armies. I don't think he counted on my intervention, but if I saw perfectly the state of both sides, probably he did too. The Horde had an advantage."

"But the Horde had a lot of casualties that day." Turalyon countered.

"And that was thanks to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm flattering myself, but things are the way they are. Without me, they would have destroyed you. And despite the Horde casualties that day, they still have troops spread across the world, still having an advantage." Wrathion took a pause. "The conclusion was that, the Horde had advantages so, if your objective is to practically dominate the world, you have to weaken the most powerful force." Wrathion sighed. "And that's why Zul betrayed the Zandalaris now."

"What?" Anduin was surprised at Wrathion's conclusion. It wasn't something that had occurred to him about the reasons for N'Zoth using Zul no matter how much he thought about it.

"Yes. The Zandalaris joining the Horde was extremely beneficial so N’Zoth had to stop them by organizing that assault on Zuldazar with all the blood trolls and Mythrax. I don't think Rastakhan will live much longer, honestly. Talanji won't really be prepared to take command and Zul knew it."

"Zul worked with G’huun." said Tyrande in a somewhat weak but calm voice. "G'huun... is not an old god, but how powerful is he, exactly? Is it like N’Zoth?"

"No." Wrathion replied, propping his elbows on the table. "No, no, he is not as strong as N’Zoth. Despite that, his blood power is innate and his affinity is perfect, he can be as dangerous as N’Zoth can be if he comes out of the hole and infests everything. But in the end of the day it will be N’Zoth that worries you the most. I wouldn't take risks with anything."

"So N’Zoth has G’huun as an ally?"

"I'm not very sure of the relationship they currently have, but it is obvious that N’Zoth is interested. Few things scare me, but one of them is the fact that an old god has a semi-old god under control."

"We are forgetting a very important point." Jaina cut. "N’Zoth has weakened the Zandalaris, it would be the perfect opportunity to attack them and destroy the new allies of the Horde forever, with it they will be even more weakened." there was an uncomfortable silence. Anduin frowned.

"The Horde and the Zandalaris are victims of this." Anduin said. "How can you suggest attacking them now after what you just heard? That way you will only do N’Zoth a favor."

"It doesn't seem like a bad idea to me." added Turalyon. "The Horde is still a problem as well. We could get rid of them and then settle the N’Zoth issue."

"Only the Light knows what N’Zoth is hiding awaiting for us, we have no idea, do you want to go blind against him? After knowing what he can do? Some of you have seen what he did only with Leo, if he can do that while locked up, what can he do if he is free? We can't defeat him without people, and I'm not saying that because of the Horde. If we storm the Zandalaris, you will only give them reason to hate us and join the Horde more."

"And we will also have losses if we go for G’huun or N’Zoth."

"They are a global threat, what part of 'is an old god and does not care what we are because he will kill us all' you don’t understand? Either we go for them or we are just screwed, we don't have as much time as it seems."

"Attacking Dazar’alor doesn't sound too bad." Moira argued. "The Zandalaris in the Horde are also a threat. Before worrying about the world, we should worry about our personal situation."

Anduin was surprised to see that many nodded. It was okay for them to put aside a problem as serious as G’huun and N’Zoth only to focus on sieging a city with a king at death's door, much of his weakened army, and plenty of innocent civilians. Anduin thought it was too selfish to say yes, he had just told them one of the biggest threats in history and they didn't mind it. He sighed wearily, he was still feeling bad and all this talk was causing his headache to get worse.

When he glanced at Wrathion, he saw that the dragon looked disappointed. But as soon as he looked at Anduin, he put on an expression of indifference. He shook Anduin's hand tightly.

"Thank you very much for all the help you have given me, Anduin, I will never forget it."

Anduin was about to ask him why he said that but, but as soon as Wrathion got up, he understood. He gave him an almost pleading look and wanted to say something to make him stay, but nothing came out.

"Where are you going?" Jaina asked. "You should stay with us for this just as you did after the battle in the Valley. You owe us to help you with the controlled ones." Wrathion laughed sarcastically.

"I don't owe you shit, if it was for me I would have killed them anyway. That threat would have been removed with or without you. And the Valley thing was because I made a deal with Anduin and nothing else. I'm not part of you and my interests are now elsewhere. So if you'll excuse me, cutie, I have to go."

"Don't you realize how important this conflict is?"

"Oh, screw the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, there is no worse blind than the one who doesn't want to see. I hope you go and get killed so you would stop shaming others."

Turalyon stepped into Wrathion's path and looked at him threateningly.

"Measure your words, Deathwing in miniature." if Wrathion must have been intimidated or angered by that, it wasn't reflected anywhere. Instead he faced up and stared blankly at him.

"Sometimes I would love N’Zoth to win." Wrathion smiled. "Seriously, I would love to see how everything go shit and see you begging him to kill you because you can't bear the mental damage he can do to you, I would let N'Zoth win just for that. You're lucky I made a promise." the dragon tapped Turalyon's shoulder loosely as if they were friends. "Good luck."

Wrathion slammed his shoulder against Turalyon's before walking out the door. The meeting went on as if everything that happened was just a memory of the past. Anduin began to understand why N’Zoth hadn't done as much with them as he did with the Horde, the Alliance was stupid enough to create its own traps.

They all came up with ideas to storm Dazar'alor except Genn, he just said 'well' or 'maybe' from time to time, he didn't look very comfortable either. Anduin didn't say a word, he didn't want to, it was better if he didn't say what he thought. At that very moment and for the first time, he really wanted to run away and never look back again. He had felt this in the past, but never as intensely as now.

Anduin didn't want to be part of anything now, not even the Alliance, which he now looked at it with shame and the leaders with some disappointment. He felt so deeply the need to walk away on his own, just as Wrathion did, that he didn't dare say it out loud. He couldn't do that unfortunately and he only limited himself to half-hide his face with one hand so that no one could see him.

Never before he had never wanted to be completely alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, N'Zoth, you only needed the Azerite for the Alliance even though you didn't see Anduin's power coming.   
Anduin pls run away with you future husban- I mean, Wrathion.  
See you next time, take care!


	18. Guardians of Azeroth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, it's me... I hope you're doing okay, I bring some distraction.  
I have to say this is a chapter I enjoyed writing like one year ago. Still, sorry for grammar mistakes

After the worst meeting he had ever attended, Anduin, without saying a word, went straight to his room and locked himself. Genn tried to speak to him when the meeting was over, but the young king only waved his hand indicating him to leave him alone. Anduin didn't think talking to someone now was a good idea, he would probably lose his temper. Anduin still couldn't believe what had happened, he couldn't believe the indifference they all showed. The hatred N’Zoth created between factions left the entire world blind and was going to win the battle.

Another thing that affected him quite a bit was that Wrathion left. Anduin had wanted to stop him and ask him to stay since the dragon was the only one who knew how dangerous was N’Zoth completely. Besides that, Wrathion was his friend and his company was most comforting lately. But after seeing the situation, it was normal that the dragon decided to leave. If Anduin was more determined, he would have gone with him to stop the madness. But as usual, he was in a position that didn't really allow him to do something like that, he stayed where he was.

When Anduin closed the door, he started to feel the anger heat. He began to walk in circles, with his hands on his head, wanting to cry, trying not to think that he would probably have to be involved in another questionable battle against the Horde, and worse than that, attacking a city with innocents. It was as if he had suddenly become like Sylvanas and his blood was boiling, his headache was getting worse.

On his table were some recent letters from Stormwind. Anduin thought some would be from Muradin reporting on Arathi, but soon realized that they were from nobles, church and some representative of something. He tried to read over, but everything was demands, as if the talks he had had a few days ago with them never happened. He threw them on the table and tried to forget their existence, he was too frustrated.

Anduin went out on the balcony and stayed in the dark of the night. The atmosphere was somewhat damp and cold, but he didn't care. He sat down on the cold stone and looked at the harbor. From there nobody would imagine that the world was hanging by a thread. If only he could be like ordinary people and get on with his normal daily life with his friends and family... Instead he just felt isolated from everyone. Anduin wrapped his arms around his legs and sat down resting his head on his knees.

He needed to get lost somewhere.

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It wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but now everything was complicated. After leaving, Wrathion wandered around the harbor, trying to plan something new. Originally, he thought that when the Alliance realized what was happening they would help him because they wouldn't be as short-minded as the Horde. The reality was so different that it came to discourage him, he couldn't count on anyone, only Anduin showed him support. He didn't like the idea of leaving Anduin behind too much either, it made him sad. Wrathion had regained his friendship and thought he could keep it if they worked together, apart, his company alone was the only thing that gave him joy nowadays, but his mission was too important. Although it pained him that he had to go alone again, he had to move on.

The situation in Nazmir had also become too complicated. N’Zoth, in one way or another, broke the seals that kept G’huun prisoner. Now between him and G’huun there was an army of blood trolls, Zul and who knows what else could be there. He supposed that first of all he should be well armed and explore the place, a little research couldn't hurt him. He could fly to Nazmir without someone spotting him and be stealthy. Then he would have to decide between a crazy plan or something more complex.

Wrathion stopped at a bar he used to go to when there weren't too many customers and came up with something. That day was quite crowded with people who just finished their workday and wanted to have a good time with their friends. Wrathion sat at the end of the bar alone and ordered a glass of Drop anchor dunkel, a drink he had taken a liking to, and massaged his temples. He shouldn't do that, if he let his emotional state twist so badly then he would make N’Zoth happy and he couldn't allow it, now less than ever.

"Holy shit, you really leave places fast, don't you?"

Wrathion looked to the side and was quite surprised to see it was Tess who was speaking to him.

As if they were two lifelong friends meeting casually at the bar, Tess took the free seat next to the dragon and ordered a glass of Aurora Borealis. As soon as she had it in her hands, she took a drink and dropped the glass making some noise.

"How did you know I was here?" Wrathion asked.

"Well, I asked people if they had seen a menacing looking boy and... I found you." Tess saw Wrathion frowning, as if he was suspecting something. "Don't look at me like that, with everything that has happened, I just want to talk."

"About what? I have already said everything I had to say and you told me everything I needed."

"It's not about that." Wrathion tilted his head, confused. "It's about Anduin. You know? When you left, he was very down, you should have seen his face... Obviously it was because of the whole situation but also because he was quite comfortable with you, it's not something that can be said about him nowadays. He wasn't amused that you left."

"And what are you trying to tell me?" Tess looked at him.

"I didn't trust you. When I found out you were in Stormwind’s dungeons I thought 'buff, that's what we need, a traitor around here' and I didn't understand what you were doing. I thought you were going to hurt Anduin one more time. But it turned out you were behind something good, you even helped us. I understand your intention regarding N’Zoth, you want to save the world. But I don't know your intention with Anduin, you spend practically the days together and I don't see the need when you have made it clear that your interest is a global threat. I don't understand why you became so close."

"Does it bother you that I'm with him because I'm a black dragon?" he asked, tired. Tess laughed a little.

"You're very innocent if you think that's the reason. I don't care what you are, it's never been for that. It has always been because of your history this mistrust, the things you have done, especially three years ago in Pandaria when you released a war prisoner and betrayed." Wrathion sighed heavily. "To be honest, most don't trust you for that and not because you're a black dragon. I still remember what Anduin told me about you after the show you put on. Textually it was something like: 'I hate him, I don't want to see him ever again' or something like that, he was very hurt. But we both know he isn't spiteful and accepts you as a friend once again. That's precisely what worries me." Wrathion took a small drink.

"Do you think I'm going to hurt him?" Tess took another drink with a half smile.

"You will say." Tess leaned her head on her hand and looked at him. "Look, I love Anduin very much, I adore him, he's like a little brother to me. But sometimes he tends to put his trust in something inconvenient and it always ends up bad, which is what happened with you years ago. I don't want him to have a bad time, he has enough with everything that happens nowadays. But if he wants to run around with you, I want to be sure that you won't hurt him in any way."

Wrathion looked at his glass thoughtful. The idea of Anduin had hated him made his eyebrows quiver and he once again wished to erase those days in history. The dragon was pleasantly surprised that many distrusted him for things he did and not for what he was, whenever someone said something bad to him there was always a reference to his race. Wrathion finished his glass and looked at Tess seriously.

"I understand perfectly that you distrust me, really, it doesn't catch me by surprise. I wouldn't trust someone who betrayed a long time ago and now goes around scampering very quickly without paying attention to their surroundings because they try to lose sight of everything around them. But I'll tell you one thing. Sometimes it happens that you find people who are able to stop you and make you look calmly at what is around you, and then you discover that not everything was so bad, you even enjoy the view and the dead time." Wrathion cocked his head slightly. "There are only two people in this world capable of producing that effect on me and one of them is Anduin. So regarding your concern, no, I have no intention of harming him, he's my friend and I have no intention of losing him."

A glow of genuine surprise appeared in Tess' eyes. An answer as honest as that was what she least expected. Tess finished her drink and gave Wrathion a small smile.

"I hope so, otherwise, you will answer to me, I don't care how powerful you are. Just one thing, a small favor. Before you throw yourself into an enemy-infested swamp to try to save the world, I suggest you talk to Anduin, so maybe you can calm him because he'll care about you... and because I think you're the only one who can calm him now."

Wrathion got up from his chair and left several gold coins to pay for both his and Tess' drinks, inviting out of courtesy, and asked the waiter for a bottle of Drop anchor dunkel to take away. Wrathion guessed she wouldn't ask more questions, he had said enough and turned to leave, but Tess spoke once more.

"Do you have anything to say about what you did three years ago?" Wrathion turned his head slightly. "Won't you try to justify your past actions? Or you don't care about your past self?"

"That Wrathion is dead."

Tess frowned in confusion at the answer, but by the time she went to ask, Wrathion was already walking out of the bar without looking back leaving her with several questions.

Wrathion didn't want to talk much more, enough had been said about him in one night. He felt a little calmer now, that girl really came in peace. He was glad that at least Anduin had such a friend when the dragon wasn't there. Wrathion knew not many people really cared about Anduin that way except for the Greymane family, from what he had found, and it was a relief. Although it was also evident that Anduin never explained his deepest thoughts for some reason.

As he walked to the Proudmoore Keep, the breeze took away any sad state he had. Tess said something very true, he had to speak to Anduin before leaving. Wrathion had left that meeting quite angry and barely exchanged words with him, practically left without saying goodbye correctly. Knowing Anduin as he knew him, he wouldn't be happy about that. Other than that, personally, the dragon needed to talk and tell him that none of it was his fault and explain the dragon had been more grateful than he appeared. Wrathion wanted to see him one more time.

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Anduin didn't know how long he had been sitting there. With his head on his knees and his eyes closed for minutes, the cool breeze took most of the anger away. It had been working, all the heat of the rage he accumulated during the night left him and only the chest pain remained. But now a feeling of sadness and a huge emptiness took place in his mind.

"Are you asleep?"

Anduin looked up surprised. The sky was so clear that the moonlight and stars let him see clearly Wrathion sitting quietly on the edge of the balcony. Again he had climbed several meters up a vertical wall. An involuntary smile came from Anduin, he was so glad to see him that it was impossible for him to hide it.

"You haven't left…"

"Well, it didn't seem fair to leave without celebrating that the ritual went well." Wrathion showed him the bottle. "It was what we said."

"I wasn't mad at you either." he said, smiling broadly.

Wrathion couldn't help but bring out his most genuine smile upon seeing Anduin's face, he loved it every time Anduin smiled at him like that after so many years. The dragon sat next to Anduin and opened the bottle. After the noise he made, Wrathion took a drink and passed it to Anduin, who hesitated for a few seconds.

"I don't think I'll like it, I'm very bad at drinks." Anduin smelled it, it had a strong smell of honey.

"Try it." Anduin took a small drink and coughed with a disgusted face. Wrathion laughed lightly.

"By the Light... And the worst thing is that there are people who drink this compulsively."

"It has a soft taste for me." Wrathion picked up the bottle again and took another drink. "I'm sorry I left so suddenly. I left you alone with that mess and I shouldn't have done it considering I owe you a lot."

"I'm not mad at you or anything, actually, I understood you perfectly. I would have left too, but I was morally obligated to stay. Maybe I should have been more insistent..."

"Revenge has filled their brains with nonsense, I got it, but if you have evidence of something worse, well... Anyway, it's not your fault either, you did what you could."

Anduin rested his forehead on Wrathion's shoulder and they fell into a rather comforting silence. No words were needed, they knew well what they were thinking about the whole thing. Wrathion felt a certain tingling when Anduin got so close to him. When Wrathion took another drink, he thought it was time to ask him the most important question he had, something he wanted to know since he saw him again.

"Have you always been like this?" Anduin raised his head and looked at Wrathion confused.

"What? How? When?" Wrathion half smiled when he heard that.

"Since you’re king, have you always been this overwhelmed and stressed? And I know that sometimes in a very bad mood too."

He caught Anduin off guard. It wasn't the first time the dragon had been able to read him so easily, but he was obviously surprised to be asked. People rarely asked him personally. Anduin stretched out his legs and sighed.

"Well... sometimes it's like that, many responsibilities at the same time. I dealt with it better before because there was a truce between the Alliance and the Horde. But now it's all at once plus the planet dying and an old god."

"No one shares the weight with you?" Anduin meditated. Sometimes Genn helped him but it was only in very basic things, he had to deal with everything alone most of the time. Anduin shook his head slowly.

"No, not really."

"And do you really like being in that position?" Anduin was silent for a few seconds, he smiled like if Wrathion had just told him a joke.

"I suppose I should say something like: 'Yes, it's great to be king, people are kind to me and I have a lot of help from my advisers and I never lack anything.' And... it's true, it's largely true, I won't deny that. Maybe in the beginning there were many doubts about me but people respect and love me, they always behave good towards me most of the time. If I need something I usually have it almost instantly and my advisers are always by my side to solve any problem I have and vice versa, the truth is that we help each other a lot between people of all races. We may have cultural differences, but somehow that never matters in the end, that's why we call ourselves the Alliance... We have many good things, it's something I respect a lot... But..." the young king suddenly fell silent.

"But…?" Anduin looked away and smiled in the most nervous way possible.

"I shouldn't be saying these things..."

"Oh, come on. It's not like I'm going to tell someone. Whatever you say, it will stay between you and me."

Could he really say such a thing? It wasn't something he could say openly to any member of the Alliance, but Wrathion was totally unrelated and Anduin was sure the dragon would never judge him for saying this. Anduin sighed slowly and grabbed onto his knees.

"It's not exactly... what I had imagined... when I was little."

He had said it. Anduin lowered his head after saying that. It was the thought he most had to bury, his total disappointment. Sometimes he tried to explain his doubts about not being able to assume the responsibilities, but no one took him seriously, much less understood him. Even once, a noble told him between the lines that he was perhaps a spoiled child after all, something he didn't like very much considering what he had to go through in his life. After a whole childhood believing certain lies they told him, once Anduin grew up, it was like entering another reality.

"You know what?" Wrathion began. "When I was born and saw all the mess my dragonflight did, I was sure I wouldn't make the same mistake. I thought that by not being corrupted I could do much better, that I was prepared for anything. But ever since then I've only been crashing into the wall of reality again and again." Wrathion brought the bottle to his lips. "What I'm trying to say is... I understand what you're saying."

As Wrathion took another drink, Anduin smiled and believed he had never been so relieved as now. That was what he needed most, that someone understood him without judging, that's why he preferred to speak more to Wrathion than to anyone else. Talking to him was so easy that it made him realize why he missed him so much all these years no matter how much he didn't want to admit it. As different as their ideals might be, they could be totally sincere without being afraid of what the other might say. Wrathion looked at him.

"Can I ask you an unconventional question? But if you don't want to, don't answer."

"Sure..." Anduin frowned, he couldn't imagine what he would ask.

"Are you happy?"

Anduin stared at Wrathion. It was true, it wasn't a very conventional question, now that he thought about it carefully, no one had ever asked him that, and it was a fairly simple question. All his life he had done things for others, whether it was relieving pain or fighting for them in a war, but they never asked him personally what he wanted or if he was happy. Anduin slowly shook his head.

"No..."

"I figured. When I said those things to you in Stormwind, like I was seeing you tired, it was because I was seeing you in very low spirits. I was trying to tell you subtly but you didn't notice."

"But… I wouldn't say I'm unhappy either." Wrathion cocked his head, wanting to know more. "I'm not unhappy because I don't feel it as such, there are still good things in my life. But I can't say I'm happy either. I guess I'm in a neutral state. The situation nowadays doesn't let me be happy."

"Because of the war?"

"Because of everything!" Anduin looked aside as his nervous smile came out again, he had raised his voice a bit. "It's everything... it's..." Anduin put his hands to his head and tried to hide. His voice almost broke and had to sigh. "I... Since I'm king everything, but absolutely everything, has gone wrong. I discovered that I wasn't really prepared for this and had to hide as best I could. I thought I could bring everyone to peace, but all of that is gone. There are things I can't deal with and I feel that at any moment the situation will explode and I don't know if I want to know what will happen to me."

"What are you afraid of?" Anduin looked at Wrathion with a certain fear in his eyes.

"I don't want to end up like Sylvanas..." he confessed in a low voice. "Or like Garrosh, or Arthas... or all who lost their way... Before, I was sure about my path, but I've been strayingfrom it more and more and now I'm on one I don't know. I don't want this path to lead me to the same madness as them because it makes me feel bad, I don't know where this path will take me or I don't know if I can go back to where I was. I…"

"Anduin, Anduin..." Wrathion put his hand on Anduin's shoulder. "You won't end up like them, that's impossible, you're the last person that would end up like this."

"Why?"

"Because you aren’t like that, you have never harbored evil. It's normal that you are afraid, I have always feared ending up like my father. Sometimes it happens we lose our path for one thing or another, but we can find our way back. Or maybe the end of this new path leads you to something good, you never know. But you... I just don't think you end up that way, I'm pretty sure."

"Lately I'm not sure... I don't know, I'm very, very, tired of everything. If it's not one, it's another."

"You can tell me if you want, spit it all." Anduin swallowed.

"Well... I feel like everyone wants me to be perfect or perform some miracle. The church doesn't stop asking for things. The nobles want to be differentiated from the rest of the people, the rest of the people want certain privileges that are impossible to give. The army is short of people and those who just recovered from wounds can't rest because they have the obligation to fight again almost instantly. Obviously they glance at me because I'm the one who has to deliver the news even though other leaders had pressured me. And everyone wants more and more when it's impossible in the current situation, we have lost too many and resources are scarce. Now on top we have that point in Arathi where the Horde blocks the transportation of resources and I'm sending people that we may need here without any insurance for them. You know? I also have my limits of what I can bear and what I cannot, I cannot cope with this anymore, I'm saturated with things and I can’t even complain."

"Don't you complain because they won't let you?" Anduin rubbed his eyes with one hand.

"Because they don't care. My people are only interested in money and freeing them from wars and leaders want me to say yes to everything." Anduin sighed and shrugged, wrapping his arms around his legs again. "Sometimes I feel like I'm in a room surrounded by people and that no matter how much I shout no one would turn around to ask me if I'm okay." the king sighed again after a silence and hid his face. "Can I confess something? I admit I'm very lost, I'm not prepared, I never have been."

"I don't think there’s anything that prepares you for reality. You can read it, they can try to instruct you, but unless you see it, or live it, you will never know. You have found it so suddenly that you must have felt it like a punch in the belly, one of those that leave you half dead. It's not your fault and it's normal that you feel lost, anyone would be. Even those who seem to carry it well, as soon as they’re alone, put their hands to their heads overwhelmed by everything. There is no exception, not now, not before, not in the future. It's like this."

Anduin laid his head on Wrathion's shoulder as he closed his eyes in comfortable silence and they enjoyed a moment in company. He didn't feel sad or lonely, now that he took out these kinds of buried thoughts after so long with Wrathion, he felt quite relieved. It was like pulling out a toxic ball from his chest, he even felt better about the side effects of the ritual. Although he would have liked to be like this for days, Anduin raised his head after a while.

"I wish I could go somewhere to start again, away from this." Anduin confessed. "I would like to be in a place where everyone, no matter the race, was welcome and that we really fought for what is worth, like saving the world from something like N’Zoth. We would respect each other and share everything." When Anduin looked at Wrathion he saw that the dragon was smiling at him in an almost tender way and Anduin felt embarrassed. "Well, don't mind me too much, I'm only daydreaming, I do it very often."

"Don't be ashamed, it's just an inner desire you have like everyone else. Although yours is cute. Weren't there brotherhoods or groups that were neutral?" Anduin slowly denied.

"Many have disappeared. Those who remain have closed the doors, because of Azerite and distrust with this conflict, many try to take advantage. Also because groups like The Earthen Ring only accept shamans, or the Cenarion Circle only druids..."

"And why don't you create one?" Anduin laughed lightly.

"I can't do this and you don't create such a group like that overnight with people who want this. Also, who would be in it? Me and…?"

"Me."

"Okay, we’ll create a group." Anduin added sarcasm to the phrase.

"I was serious. If you create such a group, I would enter without thinking twice."

"Why?" Wrathion hesitated and he looked at him seriously.

"If you were in a room and suddenly shouted, I would turn around, Anduin."

Anduin noticed he was caught by surprise. He came to imagine such a situation. He recalled that Wrathion had already proposed to him to go on adventures once. But now he would go around the world with a specific group to defeat global threats, just like the adventure books he read when he was very young. Those kinds of dreams were just the wishful thinking of someone who didn't want to grow up, Varian told him once and Anduin never brought up the subject with anyone again for fear. But he kept thinking about things like that, an adventure he couldn't believe because he had his feet on the ground.

"It's just... daydreaming."

"Well, let's daydream together then. What do you say? Just you and me against the world."

"It doesn't sound that bad." Anduin laughed. "How would we call ourselves?" Wrathion looked confused, so Anduin continued. "You know, all great stories with groups of heroes need a name that identifies them."

"Oh, well... let me think." Wrathion spent a long time thinking about the best name until he seemed to realize something. "A year or so ago, I faced the only possessed who had more Void power than Leo, it was a hard hunt that lasted a week. On one of those days, N’Zoth called me 'little guardian of Azeroth' and I was amused that he called me that."

"Why does he always call you little?"

"He likes it." Anduin was thoughtful. "Do you know who were the first guardians of Azeroth?"

"I remember some names like Freya, Odyn, Tyr or Mimiron."

"Most are dead, and those left alive abandoned their mission as guardians long ago. No one is playing that role anymore. That's why it should be us, because we're still concerned with that mission and we know it's the right thing to do, defend the entire world." Anduin was going to answer, but when he saw Wrathion's serious face, he began to realize something.

"Are we serious about this?"

"I already told you that if you were in, me too. Although in a way I'm already a guardian. We can both go and try to save the world with whatever we have, or we can continue just like always, fighting to try to make ourselves heard in vain. You wouldn't stop being king of Stormwind and High King in the Alliance, but you would also be a Guardian alongside me. It's up to you."

Anduin didn't think he would really take it seriously, he thought he would be skeptical, but he was tempted.

It was as if he decided to have a double life. He once read such a book about a gnome who was a hero at night and a humble history teacher by day. But that character used to carry everything very calmly and Anduin didn't know if he would be capable. He wouldn't leave the Alliance, that was for sure, but he could give himself more freedom. He had always been quite doubtful about everything, he was always afraid to decide by himself. However, he felt safe with Wrathion, he was sure the dragon would help him better than anyone. Anduin wanted to have him around somehow. If this was a way out, he could agree.

"I’ll accept on one condition." Wrathion looked at him curiously. "From now on, I want you to tell me everything."

"Everything?"

"No more secrets, even if you're very worried or scared, don't hide anything from me, tell me everything even if it’s nonsense. So I won't hide anything from you either and I'll tell you anything that comes to my mind, even if it’s also nonsense... I want mutual trust... And that we always support each other." Wrathion was surprised, deep down he didn't expect this request. The dragon closed his eyes and thought about it for a few seconds. As soon as he looked at Anduin, his gaze softened enough and a half smile came out.

"Okay." they both linked their little fingers.

"'This is the promise of the little finger, the one who breaks it...'"

"'... a thousand needles will fall on them and their finger will be cut off.'" they both laughed but Wrathion suddenly became very serious while looking away to some missing point.

"What’s wrong?"

"If you don't want secrets between us..." Wrathion got up and leaned on the railing looking at the harbor. "Then there's something you should know."

"What is it?"

"It's about Teldrassil." the young king frowned. "Anduin... The Horde didn't burn Teldrassil."

"What?" he tried not to sound too surprised without success. Wrathion turned.

"It was N’Zoth." Anduin was confused. "The Horde had a role in all that attack, I don't deny that, but it was unconsciously done. N’Zoth took advantage of them to make you believe it was the Horde. I have hidden all this for a couple of reasons. First and most important because I didn't want you to think you were such idiots, you went to war based on a very big lie believing it was them."

"But... How did he do it?"

"Besides Azshara and Zul, there is one more under control." Anduin looked at him as if demanding to know more. "I don't know who is. But I know they're very dangerous if they can completely burn a world tree."

"Are you completely sure that it was this controlled one and not the Horde?"

"And do you really think the Horde has the necessary means to burn such a tree?" Anduin opened his mouth to answer, but immediately closed it. "They can't, it's impossible. This controlled one could because they must have a very big power. The other reason I didn't say it is because… it was my fault."

"Your fault? Why?"

"Because I was heading to Teldrassil. I was in the middle of a mission, N’Zoth found out and… in response, he burned Teldrassil."

"Isn't too much burning a place just because you were going there?" Wrathion shook his head.

"World trees can be a threat to beings like N’Zoth and can help beings like Azeroth to restore themselves. It's not so strange." Wrathion sat on the floor again. "I was close when I saw it burn and honestly, I thought N’Zoth won."

"Wrathion..."

"I... I needed some time to recover and think, I spent that time without knowing what to do or where I should go. In the end I thought the best thing I could do was to ask for help. I mean, after what I had caused, everything was completely out of control. What else could I do but ask for help?" Wrathion lowered his head with a very sad look. "It wasn't easy considering I was a global criminal. As soon as I decided I would ask you for help, I just prayed you wouldn't kill me." Anduin felt bad. He behaved badly when he saw Wrathion and regretted it. The dragon saw him out of the corner of his eye. "Don't put on that guilty face, you didn't know what was happening, it was normal for you to react that way. I couldn't blame you and I'm certainly not angry about it, and even less when I'm the one to blame, I'm so sorry..."

"Come."

As Wrathion raised his head, Anduin was already giving him a little hug. He had wanted to give him one for a while but didn't dare until he couldn't resist anymore. Wrathion was quite surprised at first, but returned the hug as he closed his eyes. He let Anduin's scent flood his mind. Anduin realized that Wrathion had the highest temperature of any other being he ever met but he wasn't sure if it was because he was a dragon or because he had some fever.

"I apologize anyway for my behavior when you came to Stormwind." Anduin announced. "I was quite ignorant anyway. And I don't want you to think Teldrassil was your fault, the only guilty here is N’Zoth, without him, none of this war would happen, okay?" Anduin separated and smiled at him. "Besides, you’re willing to put yourself into the lion’s den in order to save the world, that's much more than any of the Alliance or the Horde right now... That's why... I want to tell you that I want to go to Nazmir with you."

"Huh?" Wrathion couldn't help but be surprised by that request.

"It's not a joke, and if we're serious about being the new guardians, then I should go too. N’Zoth worries me much more than any fight we have against the Horde and what happens there is much more dangerous. It's time for me to be able to decide on my own. So I want to go with you before I go to any assault on Dazar’alor they want to decide."

Wrathion could see the determination in Anduin's eyes, he was truly willing to go with him against something as dangerous as a powerful controlled one and a semi-old god. When Wrathion started all of this, he never considered someone to be so willing to endure that mission with him. He had to meditate on it for a little while.

"I can give you a ride." Wrathion concluded. "Although we’ll have to be very careful and you must be one hundred percent recovered from the secondary effects of the ritual."

"Consider it done."

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Anduin thought at first he wouldn't sleep well that night because of everything that had happened, but he ended up sleeping more deeply than ever and woke up partially rested. The pain in his chest was still there, but headaches were gone and there was no sign of anger. He thought a lot about all his talk with Wrathion and he was more convinced about being a guardian of Azeroth, but he became concerned about Nazmir. The truth is, he had no idea what he would find there, an army of blood trolls, Zul possessed by an old god, and G’huun… little did he know of them. He also didn't know what the place was like, he had only heard a small description of a swamp and someone claimed that they saw a Necropolis where a Loa was venerated. After all the trouble in the Horde fights, he knew very well that he couldn't go without knowing anything, and he couldn't ask the SI:7 if no one wanted to go.

After a quick shower, Anduin headed to the kitchens for breakfast while stretching out his arms. He had been up late, so he imagined he wouldn't find anyone and didn't know whether to rejoice or not. If he found a leader, he would definitely argue, but if there was no one then he wouldn't have no one to talk to.

As soon as he opened the door he found two people, but was relieved to see that they were Tess and Dereck. They weren't going to get him into an awkward conversation.

"Wow, finally you’re awake, we were waiting for you." Tess reproached.

"Sorry, I oversleep." Anduin walked to the cabinets and started to take out some food and pour himself a coffee to accompany.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday."

"Don't remind me of that disastrous meeting..."

"Know that my father doesn't agree, and others weren't very convinced either." Anduin raised an eyebrow as he sat down.

"I'm glad to hear that some seem to have common sense. Changing the subject, you were in Nazmir, weren’t you?" Tess blinked confused.

"Why do you ask that?" Anduin just stared. "We were more or less."

"More or less? What did you have? One foot inside and the other outside?"

"I mean we didn't get into the swamp, we were in the borders."

"How is the place?"

"Wet, it's a giant swamp, there's nothing more than that."

"There’s also something in the environment." Dereck added. "It's like it's very heavy, like when you walk into a haunted house and you know there are spirits wandering. You feel bad."

"I think I can only imagine that..." Anduin murmured. "Don't you have a map or something like that?"

"I stole some doodles that seem to be a map, but I don't think it's very useful." Dereck hesitated. "But why so much interest suddenly? Or do you plan to go with everything that just happened there? Nazmir has to be infected with enemies from all sides."

"What's supposed to just happen?" Tess and Dereck looked at each other.

"That happens because you oversleep." Tess joked. "You don't know that now the Horde will be there because Talanji wants to defeat the blood trolls and kill Zul?”

"But you told me they didn't even go there because Rastakhan doesn't care about the place."

"Anduin." Tess sighed. "You still haven't heard that Rastakhan died this morning?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boys on an adventure in Nazmir, I'm in.  
See you next chapter


	19. Path to the blood swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I hope you're okay and this quarantine isn't killing your mood, I'm kind of lucky in that way, I'm always locked.   
Anyway, here's a new chapter, I hope you enjoy it and sorry for my grammar mistakes

Since the whole war began, Anduin was increasingly surprised by the paths that destiny chose. It was no longer having a bit of bad luck or some specific problem, it was that the whole existence was laughing at him and wanted to see how far he could endure setbacks. As soon as Tess explained what happened, Anduin worried a lot. All plans about going to Nazmir had to be completely changed. Anduin already imagined that they should be very careful, but now they had to be literally invisible if they wanted to walk through that swamp. Anduin didn't say much more to his two friends, nor he said what he had planned with Wrathion the night before. As soon as the young king finished eating, he left the place. He had to find the dragon as soon as possible and start making some convoluted plan. He didn't find him anywhere, sometimes Anduin was amazed at Wrathion's ability to disappear at the least opportune moments. But to add more setbacks, it was announced that there would be a meeting about Dazar’alor in the afternoon and Velen was looking for him.

Several soldiers and SI:7 agents were attacked in Zuldazar because a large part of the Zandalaris were mobilizing to Nazmir. They got involved in a small fight between borders in which they had to run because they were outnumbered, no one died fortunately. At least it wasn't too much work, only one soldier had serious injuries, Velen's problem was that he couldn't attend everyone.

Anduin realized Leo was still there completely asleep. Unlike Taelia, he seemed to be in a deep coma and looked much worse. Velen told him Leo had been moving all night and that there was something wrong with his mind, most likely it was nightmares. Apart from all that, physically he was in a worse situation. The rubber ball that was fired at him caused a huge bruise on his right arm and, as he moved so much hitting himself at night, he ended up doing more damage unconsciously to the point where they had to put an arm sling on his injured arm and tie the other arm to the head of the bed.

Anduin also noticed Tyrande was no longer there. It was himself who was more involved in her recovery but after being absent for a few days he didn't know if Velen discharged her or Tyrande took it on her own. Although his intention was to find Wrathion, as soon as he left, he went to change Tyrande's bandage because Velen requested.

Finding the elf wasn't too difficult. She was in an archery field alone trying to hit a target without much success. It wasn't that her aim was bad, it was that Tyrande didn't stop shaking or some tic in her hand was annoying. As soon as Tyrande realized Anduin was approaching, she stopped. The young king greeted her with a weak smile as he showed her the bandage.

"Hello, Velen has asked me to change it for you."

"_Ishnu-alah_." although Anduin didn't speak Darnassian, he knew that was a frequent greeting.

"How have you been these days?" as soon as Anduin reached her, the elf shrugged.

"I've been well, as well as I can be."

"Can I?"

Anduin pointed to her bandage and they both sat on a nearby bench. Although the wounded zone was still in deep violet color, Anduin realized the Kaldorei had a much better regeneration than humans. An average human would still be in bed, no doubt, but Tyrande was already practicing with the bow as if nothing had happened.

"Is archery going well?" Anduin asked while doing a little cure using the Light.

"Not really. My hands..." Anduin turned his gaze to the elf's hands. They were trembling slightly.

"Does it make it too difficult for you?"

"I can't fight like before, I'm limited. I can't move well and sometimes I think..." Tyrande didn't finish the sentence, she simply grabbed her hands while sighing in frustration. "I can't go back to what I was, I can see it."

"Yes you can. This is just a bump you have to overcome, and you can do it."

"I should have gotten over it by now." she replied frustrated. "Any Kaldorei would be fine, I'm not okay, I'm ashamed. Everything would be better if that orc had killed me and I wouldn't have to wor-"

"Don't say that!" when their eyes met, Anduin had an angry expression. "You have lost a little mobility that you can regain, not your life. I don't want to hear you say something like that ever again."

Tyrande frowned slightly in surprise, but didn't say anything. If there was one thing Anduin couldn't stand, it was people saying things like wanting to die. He couldn't even hear jokes about it. He understood that the elf was frustrated at not being able to do things well no matter how hard she tried, but the only idea that Tyrande could be dead and therefore wouldn't be speaking to her now was something that disturbed the young king, he didn't want to imagine it. Neither of them said a word as the king put the clean bandage in place. Anduin thought he spoke a little too much and the best thing would be that, when he finished, he should say goodbye and continue on his way.

"Anduin..." Tyrande lowered her head when saying his name. "What are you going to do now, really?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after everything that was said at the meeting. I know you don't want to go to Dazar’alor, you prefer to focus on Nazmir. But I'm not sure what you will really do, will you go to the assault?" Anduin was surprised that it was Tyrande specifically who asked him such a question. If someone told him a few months ago that the elf would be asking him something personal, he wouldn't have believed it.

"I don't want to go to Dazar'alor, I don't plan to go. I can't do such a thing and I'm amazed at how confident some people are."

"Between us, I'm not sure at all." Anduin blinked in surprise.

"Why?" Tyrande shook her head.

"It is very hasty considering what has happened." the priestess looked at the young king after a long sigh. "I'm pretty sure you will go to Nazmir whether the others want it or not, so be careful, I don't know what you can find there if there are old gods involved."

Anduin was surprised. He never thought Tyrande would care about him. Maybe it was because he helped her with the injury, or maybe she was finally realizing that N’Zoth manipulated everyone with revenge and didn't want to fall into that trap too. If Tyrande was in good shape, maybe she would go to Nazmir with him.

"I will be extremely careful." Anduin assured. "Nothing will happen to me. Also, I'm going with Wrathion and he's very powerful, we will be fine."

Tyrande smiled slightly as she got up to try to hit the target once more.

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In the end it was Wrathion who ended up finding Anduin after eating. Just when the young king was about to give up, the dragon appeared, dropping from a tree, and invited him to go to the place where they used to train and chat for a while. The afternoon had gray clouds all over the sky and at some points it was obvious that it had been drizzling because of the smell of fresh grass, but they left Boralus chasing each other as if they were children playing while laughing. When they arrived at the place, Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the waist and tickled him to the ground. Anduin couldn't stop laughing until he challenged him to a fight, but Wrathion won without much effort. Once they lay down to rest on the grass, calm and looking at the sky, Anduin explained what had happened. Wrathion didn't know until now that Rastakhan died in the morning, although he already imagined that it would happen at any time. He had been somewhat isolated from the people and the news, so this revelation worried him more than usual.

"This is bad." said Wrathion. "Only facing what N’Zoth and G’huun have there will be problematic. But if we add Horde forces it only makes it worse. We must be very stealthy."

"I know I said to go only the two of us but... should we bring with us reinforcements?"

"Being more can become problematic, we would be easily caught and it's something we must avoid."

"Well, I didn't mean to bring an army with us. Rather be a small group."

"You don't want to go alone with me against the world anymore?" Wrathion added a certain dramatic tone to the phrase that made Anduin laugh. The young king turned around, lying face down on his elbows.

"It would be nice a reality in which this could be solved only between the two of us. But realistically, we'll need help, especially since I'm not very skilled with stealthy intrusions."

"It's about going on tiptoe..." Anduin smiled. "I imagine you have thought of someone suitable who isn't a problem to come with us, otherwise you wouldn't be suggesting it. Who are you thinking of?

"I..." Anduin hesitated. "I was thinking of someone like Tess." Wrathion had his eyes half closed, but when he heard that name, he suddenly opened them and repressed a smile.

"Wow... why her especially?"

"Well, she's my friend and I've known her for quite some time. She does assassin's things and spy stuff, but she's very nice. So I propose her, she knows a lot about it. Is there a problem with her?"

"No, no, not at all. Only I'm… surprised."

Anduin didn't understand anything and just frowned. Wrathion didn't want to tell him that yesterday she spoke seriously to him about Anduin and, in a way, she tried to threaten him. What would Tess think now when she sees them together and proposes to go with them? Maybe she wouldn't like it.

"So do you agree?" Anduin insisted.

"You'll talk to her and if she accepts, well, she can come."

"It will be good for us, she was close to Nazmir and can help us about what the place is like, because you don't know anything, right?"

"No, but I don't know how precise that orientation will be considering that she wasn't exactly there."

"We should take a lot of weapons too and also get a shi-"

"Step by step, light-boy, first see how many we'll be and then we talk about the rest."

"Don't call me that." he said, laughing.

"You don't like your nickname? Well, sorry, but get used to it." Anduin hit Wrathion's chest without much force and they both laughed. “_Di borel’ta_."

"Don't talk to me in Draconic, I don't understand anything. Tell me in Common."

"Well, following the Nazmir matter-"

"Don't change the topic."

"First things first." Wrathion leaned on his left elbow to look at him. "Once you fix the Tess thing, you have to think what to bring. The first visit we’ll explore the place. We won't go after G’huun as soon as we step on Nazmir, we must know where we should move. Assuming Tess comes, I can sleep outside, but I don't know about you. In any case, carry a small tent. About weapons, carry what you’re best at, I'll take an Azerite gun as an extra with the usual. You should too."

"Shouldn't we stop using the Azerite?"

"If you're not stupid enough to fall for N’Zoth's deception, it's still a powerful substance you can put to good use, just like when you use the Void. Regarding how we got there. If we were just the two of us, I would have taken you flying but I can't take more than one, can we borrow a small boat?"

"Can't you seriously take several people?"

"Didn't you see well my dragon form in the Valley or what? I'm not that big and you would end up falling off my back, not to mention how uncomfortable it would be for me to carry excesses."

"Well, I don't know if they'll leave me a boat for this, we'll see that."

"And I still haven't asked you how you are regarding the side effects of the ritual."

"I think I'm okay. The headache comes as a stab of pain sometimes, it isn't uncomfortable, but the chest pain is still there."

"Is it very annoying?"

"A little..." Wrathion knew he was trying to lie.

"Take more days off then, let's not rush anything now. Meanwhile we'll prepare all this. And for the last time, are you sure you want to come?"

"Ask me that again and I wont' go with you." Wrathion smiled mischievously. "I'm determined to go and you won't change my mind, idiot."

Anduin explained what happened to Leo during the night, but Wrathion found it normal. Leo's subconscious was probably disturbed after the parasite came out, and worse yet, he was a child. The only thing Wrathion recommended would be that as soon as he woke up, not tell him what had happened too quickly. With such revelations it was best to explain it very slowly so he wouldn't be scared and assimilate it.

After a few minutes talking, it started to drizzle again. They were walking slowly to Boralus because a tedious meeting was waiting for Anduin and he wanted to delay him as long as he could. The young king asked Wrathion to come with him to dinner because he would discuss things with Tess and need his help. Wrathion agreed, though he dropped that Genn would most likely be there and didn't know how he would take it, but Anduin was sure he could convince them both if necessary.

As Anduin thought, without a doubt, it was an even more tedious meeting than the last one. Not necessarily because there was much discussion because everyone had different points of view, but because Anduin was exhausted from pretending so much that he was interested in what they said. He didn't participate too much or pay attention. He only caught that they had to specifically attack the Zandalari fleet first of all because it was the biggest threat. There were several times when some, such as Turalyon or Jaina, asked Anduin if he liked some complex tactics. Anduin may have been imagining it, but he came to think that they were teasing him because of the voice tone they used. He wanted to leave many times.

To make things worse, in a moment of pause, Katherine struck up a short conversation with the young king. She wanted to know about what happened to Jaina when Varian died, as her daughter didn't tell her the details. Anduin had no problem explaining the events of that day, but after clarifying that, Katherine asked more personally about his experience as king. Anduin didn't feel very comfortable and lied about it, he couldn't say the same things he told Wrathion. But if there was something that bothered him it was when she said the word 'heir'. It was the last straw. Although Anduin wanted to jump out of the window and run away, he just said that it was personal and he needed to think it well.

Once the meeting ended without specifying when they should be mobilized, Genn went with Anduin to have dinner together. Last day, the old wolf tried to speak to him several times without much success, but this time the young king had to accept. Before reaching the kitchen, Tess joined them. Anduin began to suspect it would be a conversation worth remembering. When they started eating they didn't say much except Tess asking how the meeting went, but the more they told her, the more she frowned.

"This all sounds like a horrible waste of time, honestly." Tess sighed. "Dad, with Rastakhan dead, you shouldn't do this."

"What do you want me to say in such a situation?" Genn left the cutlery. "Look, I don't like any of this either, but if the vast majority agree, I can't make them change their minds, no matter how much I want. Maybe Talanji gives up and we can finish everything quickly."

"What makes you think she will?" Anduin replied. "From what I heard, she's young and loves her people very much, she won't deliver them just like that."

"Maybe you can convince her when you’re face to face." Anduin was silent for a few seconds.

"Genn... I'm not going to Dazar’alor." Genn blinked. "I'll go to Nazmir."

"What are you talking about?"

There were a few seconds of pure silence while Anduin continued eating as if nothing had happened. Tess had been quite surprised too. As Anduin had requested a few hours earlier, Wrathion entered the door to join them after a slight delay because he didn't know the meeting ended. The dragon locked Tess at first, she was quite surprised to see him. Genn on the other hand frowned.

"Okay, I get it." Genn started, irritated. "He has put the idea in your mind and convinced you to go." Wrathion quickly understood the situation and approached the table putting his hands in his pockets.

“If it's any consolation." argued Wrathion. "In the beginning I didn't want him to come with me."

"He hasn't put any idea in my mind." Anduin corroborated. "It was my decision."

"I can't believe what I hear." said Genn. "You cannot go to Nazmir when it's full of enemies. You cannot go without information against part of the Horde and an almost old god."

"I can't attack Dazar’alor either, I can't go."

"You've lost your mind? Anduin, this cannot be debatable."

"Do you prefer to argue once you're dead?" Wrathion asked, Genn stared at him.

"I don't want to talk to you precisely. Even if you say no, I'm pretty sure you've convinced him to go with you."

"Genn." Anduin called. "For the last time, he hasn't convinced me to do anything.

"Listen to me." Genn sighed. "First of all, I don't know how you'll tell this to others when you announce that you aren't going, I'm sure they'll oppose and I don't think they'll be very kind. And second, I remind you that your father sacrificed himself so that the Alliance could survive and teach that nothing and no one is above us or don't be suicidal for lost causes, apart from that he also did it for you. If you turn your back on this, the only thing you're going to insinuate to people is that they can betray us and go unpunished. And on top of that you want to go out there risking your life foolishly against something much more powerful than you as if you were calling for death. It's a poor way to thank him for the sacrifice he made."

"And going to attack a city like a genocide is much more viable than trying to save the world, right? And since we're talking about sacrifices, if you consider me a traitor for something like that, let me make one thing clear: I'm willing to sacrifice my life or my position as king to save them all, Alliance, Horde and even the poor boy who has nothing to do with none. You know very well I want peace in the world. Doing things like attacking in a genocidal way, as if we were the Horde, goes against everything I defend. I can go to war, but it will only be against things that are really threatening. I'm sorry, but I cannot betray my principles again, I won't lower myself to those levels again, ever. That attack isn’t for the Alliance, it's only for revenge and you know it." Genn sighed and put his hands to his head, hiding his face.

"Anduin... I never wanted to tell you this, but... There are some who want to keep you locked up precisely for these things. They think you're a kid."

"Let them try." Wrathion replied. "If they can get over me." Genn looked at the dragon.

"We already locked you up once."

"Because I let you. If I had wanted to, I would have broken the chains and left Stormwind without a scratch. But I didn't want to because it would involve bringing trouble to Anduin." the young king looked at him. Actually, it would have been very troublesome if Wrathion had done any of that. "Look, Genn. It's very simple, an attack on Dazar’alor will only benefit N’Zoth, that's what he wants, he wants you to kill each other. It's time for you to consider settling issues with an old god instead of the Horde."

"But Sylvanas doesn't-"

"Sylvanas is being manipulated and is more than evident."

"And how do you intend to attack G’huun now?"

"Stop there, Gilnean Lo’Gosh. First of all, Anduin has yet to recover from the effects of the ritual. Second, we don't plan to get to Nazmir and attack G’huun so quickly. The first trip will only be to explore the place since we don't have too much information. It will be knowing how the place is like, trying to know more about the blood trolls, Zul and confirming the position of the bug. Then we'll talk about attacking."

"That's why..." Anduin intervened. "I would like to ask you for help with this, Tess." father and daughter blinked.

"Me?" she asked. "Why?"

"Because you have experience in these things and you know how to make intrusions without being seen, that's why I want you to come."

"Wait a moment." Genn cut annoyed. "Do you want to involve my daughter in this?"

"I'm only asking for help if she really wants to. Tess, I won't force you to anything, if you say no, I'll understand, I'm only asking for a favor... And also because I know that you don't want to go to Dazar’alor."

Tess was extremely thoughtful. Genn didn't seem to come out of his amazement yet, he was thinking about Anduin's words. Genn could understand that he preferred to go to Nazmir instead of Dazar’alor, but he didn't imagine that Anduin was actually going to do it. The young king rubbed an eye with his hand while crossing glances with Wrathion, the dragon only offered him a calm look. Anduin was glad that Wrathion was there, without him, he wouldn't have been able to stay firm, the dragon transmitted all the security in the world to him.

"Let's see..." Genn murmured while running a hand through his hair. "I need more details about this plan you're trying to put together and how you plan to tell the others."

"Actually, I don't plan to tell the others." said Anduin. "It's not as if we were going to stay a week there, it will be a quick exploration and they don't need to know it."

"And now you want to hide it, why are you telling me then?"

"Because I trust you much more." there was a small silence. "Although Tyrande knows it too, she hasn't said anything bad. Light, she even wished me luck."

"Speaking of strange things... How do you intend to go there now that I think about it?"

"That will depend on whether Tess is coming or not. If she comes, the idea is to take a small boat." Genn looked at Tess.

"Well I..." Tess smiled a little nervous. "I have to think about it a bit."

"Of course, take all the time you need." Anduin got up from the chair. "I don't have much more to say."

Anduin left his plate and silverware in the sink and left the kitchens followed by Wrathion and everything was silent. Genn sighed very loudly and looked back worried at his daughter, Tess raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You're taking it better than I thought." said Tess.

"I'm still assimilating, I never would have imagined Anduin would decide something like that."

"Well, it's like when you made those kinds of decisions, but Anduin never reproached you for something and understood you."

"It's not the same, my daughter. He's risking his life very much."

"Well, just like on the battlefield." Tess pinched Genn's cheek with a smile.

"Do you want to go?" Tess sighed.

"I’m thinking about it, I wouldn't mind doing that favor to Anduin and it's true that I have enough experience."

"But not on a mission like this, they can kill you easily."

"I think it was worse when I was neutralizing demons scattered throughout the continent, dad. Are you going to rat out Anduin to the others?"

"I can't do that and even less if he trusts me."

"He really knows how to tug at your heartstrings, would you let him go then?"

"Do you think I can stop him? I think even if I locked him up and ate the key he would get out of there somehow, and that 'somehow' is called Wrathion. What a friend he has found."

"I don't think Wrathion is a bad person... That he uses questionable methods, maybe, but not a bad person."

"I don't trust him."

"You should worry about if he’ll betray Anduin, I think Wrathion appreciates him highly and if he wanted to do something strange I think he would have done it already. Also, we can't forget Wrathion saved us in the Valley and then helped with N'Zoth's controlled ones." Genn stared at Tess and calmed down.

"You want to go, don’t you?"

"You want me to go, right?" Genn raised an eyebrow. "The sooner you tell me what you're thinking, the better. Is it because you want me to make sure Anduin is safe and keep an eye on him? Or because you want to see where this will all go?"

"I just want to know... It's not Anduin the one I want you to keep an eye on." Tess frowned. "It's the dragon. I want you to pay attention to what he does and then tell me how he really acts, if he's using Anduin or does something strange and evaluate if he's lying or if he's really a good person, I trust your criteria." Tess reflected.

"Okay, I accept."

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Anduin overslept more than expected again. He didn't understand the reason very well. Recently he had trouble sleeping, but now he barely came out of his deep sleep. Maybe it was because he felt so much calmer now. Once he got out of the shower and got dressed, he went to have breakfast.

As he got up late, only Wrathion joined him. The dragon still didn't eat too much while Anduin devoured everything in his path. Wrathion announced he had obtained guns during the night and a large amount of Azerite to use. Anduin looked closely at the guns, they weren't very heavy and had some scratches everywhere. When Anduin asked where they came from, Wrathion just looked away without saying anything. The young king suspected that he probably stole them from somewhere and wasn't amused. Wrathion quickly changed the subject when he mentioned the ship in case Tess joins them. The idea would be to ask Cyrus and get a ship that no one would use and Anduin agreed. Old Cyrus was always ready to help and now he felt indebted for everything that had happened in the Valley. Once Anduin stuffed himself with pancakes and they went outside, Tess asked to speak to them privately.

Tess explained that, after thinking about Anduin's request and discussing it with Genn, she considered that everything in Nazmir was much more dangerous and alarming than the Zandalaris with their union with the Horde. She accepted to go, but needed details and guarantees. Wrathion explained that this little trip would only be for exploration and trying to find out how the blood trolls work. They wouldn’t take risks or enter in combat unless it was necessary, everything would be an investigation, that was the reason why Anduin specifically asked her. After hearing everything, Tess proposed to bring someone who had more experience than her and who, in addition, had certain doodles to locate positions: Dereck. Although Anduin had previously heard Dereck stole some papers, Tess ended up confirming that he had been drawing Nazmir from the border. The bad news was that Dereck was sent to Zuldazar again and until the afternoon at least he wouldn't return to Boralus, that counting there wouldn't be any delays. Tess assured she could convince him with emotional blackmail without a problem.

Anduin decided to speak to Cyrus now and ask for a ship. As they walked to the office, they noticed that everyone was busier than normal. Whether it was for trade or moving troops, it was difficult to walk among the people. Once at the door, Anduin decided to do it himself, so Wrathion and Tess remained waiting at the door. There was a small awkward silence between them, Wrathion remained leaning against the door while Tess was sitting on the stairs. After a few seconds, she looked at him.

"So you've decided to stay." silence was the only answer. "Who convinced who? You or Anduin?"

Wrathion just looked away while hearing Tess' weak laugh. It was Anduin who convinced him in the end. That night, Wrathion only wanted to say goodbye and reassure him before leaving but, as soon as Anduin opened up saying what he thought, Wrathion felt weak for him. The dragon wanted to help him, he wanted to stay with him. That impulse was still so present in him that he preferred not saying it, it gave him a certain feeling of shyness that a human could make a dragon feel in such a way.

Anduin, after dodging two people, began to approach Cyrus. He also saw Taelia carrying boxes from one side to the other and they waved at each other for a second. Anduin finally caught up with Cyrus, the harbormaster looked surprised.

"Good afternoon, king Anduin." Cyrus said as he stacked several boxes in one corner.

"Good afternoon, Is this a bad moment?"

"We only have a few orders but if we have to talk, no problem." Cyrus left one last box and stretched, doing so his back cracked slightly. As soon as he was in front of Anduin, he smiled at him.

"You see, it urges me that I need a small favor for a mission I have."

"Oh, is it for that attack on the Zandalaris?"

"No, no, it's something else." Cyrus frowned in confusion. "I need a ship to go to Nazmir."

"What?" the old sailor looked to be deeply confused.

"It's a mission that we have a few and we need a transport, it doesn't even need to be a big ship, with one that is like a fishing boat is enough."

"I..." Cyrus scratched his head. "I don't think I can help you." Anduin froze.

"Why?"

"Well, most of our ships are busy transporting Azerite from islands in small expeditions, others in marine trades or simply taking and bringing people from Stormwind to Boralus. Warships are patrolling borders, you know that the Zandalari fleet often attacks us."

"You don't even have left a reserved one?"

"Every ship has a job, joining this war put us in this situation, I have the harbor upside down for it. Apart from all this, I don't think any captain is willing to approach Nazmir with all the problems happening lately. If we already had trouble getting members of the Alliance to the shores of Drustvar when the coven was there, imagine with Nazmir. And what do you intend to do there anyway?"

"The reasons are irrelevant, it's just an investigation. I understand that nobody wants to go but it is very important. Is there really nothing at all?"

"Sorry, Anduin. I don't think I can help you with this."

Anduin could notice a certain tic in his eye, after the good news that Tess would go with them, he believed that luck was on his side at last, until now. When he went outside and locked Wrathion and Tess, he felt defeated and told them what Cyrus had just told him.

"I'm not very surprised." Tess confessed. "It really is difficult to go to Nazmir. I think right now there are only three people in that place and they went on the smallest ship in the world that doesn't belong to Kul Tiras."

"This is a disaster." Anduin said, dejectedly. "Sorry, I couldn’t do it."

"Don't blame yourself." Wrathion reassured. Anduin suddenly noticed insistent touches on his shoulder and turned around, Taelia was there.

"Sorry." Taelia began. "I couldn't help but hear your conversation with Cyrus."

"Oh, it's just... well..." the young king couldn't continue.

"I think I can help you." Anduin looked at her in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes. It's not an excuse what Cyrus said, we don't have ships available, but I know someone who has a small ship and owes me a favor, I think I can get it for you." Tess walked towards her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

"We don't want to force you, but we would be very grateful to you." Tess said.

"It's not a nuisance. Right now I can't take you there because I have work to do so… What about we meet in three hours in the southern part of Mariner’s Row?"

"We'll be there." Anduin said excitedly.

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Maybe luck was finally on their side. If Taelia could get them a small ship, it was more than enough. As much as Wrathion said he could go on his own, Anduin insisted on going together, especially since Nazmir seemed more and more dangerous every time it was mentioned.

Tess was informed that Dereck returned an hour later than planned because leaving Zandalar was becoming increasingly difficult as the Zandalari fleet now surrounded the entire island. Dereck was kidnapped by her. As soon as she led him to the now empty barracks, where he was temporarily staying in Boralus, he felt fear when Anduin and Wrathion were also there. Dereck raised his hands.

"If I did something wrong, I'm sorry!" they all frowned.

"No, it's nothing like that." Anduin replied. "We just need help."

"Dumb..." Tess murmured smiling. "We need the drawings you made and the 'maps' you stole from Nazmir."

"Huh?" now it was Dereck who frowned.

"You still have them, right?"

"Yes, I have them in..."

Dereck bent down to reach a box under his bed. As soon as he opened it, several weapons dropped and a folder with some papers came out, which he personally pulled out. Dereck looked over the papers until he took a dirty one, with wrinkles and bloodstains, which looked like a map, and left it on the bed.

"This is the map I stole." Dereck explained. "Here to the west is the Vol’dun border, and in the south you find Zuldazar. Here in the south is where we saw Nazmir, but without going into it."

"From there, what does the earth look like?" Anduin asked.

"Well, this area here," Dereck pointed to the entire southern part of the map. "It's all water, very little vegetation, I think due to deforestation, right?" he looked at Tess to confirm and she nodded. "This circle in the middle," pointed to a large circle right in the center. "from where we were I couldn't see well what it was since there is a wall of trees in the way, but above the trees you could see the peak of a pyramid. I think it's that famous place called Heart of Darkness, the bastion of blood trolls."

"That's where we have to go." Wrathion said, everyone looked at him. "Uldir is there."

"And what is that place?" Tess asked.

"Where G’huun is."

"Wait." Dereck cut in. "Are you thinking of going? Seriously?" Anduin and Wrathion looked sideways, but Tess stared at him with sad eyes.

"That's right, it's for the common good, even if we have to sacrifice ourselves..." Tess said all that with a certain sadness in her voice, as if there really was no other choice. "It's a very dangerous mission and we don't want to get you into something like that, but if you decide to come and help us try to locate things instead of giving us the papers, it would be great, but without pressure." Anduin began to understand what Tess meant by 'emotional blackmail' when he suggested it. Dereck was thoughtful for a few seconds.

"Okay, I'll go." Anduin felt his jaw drop, it was too easy.

"Wait a minute." the young king began. "We really don't want to pressure you, you don't have to come to something so dangerous, seriously, why did you say yes so soon?"

"Well, it's…" Dereck looked away a bit at first, but he looked at Tess and Anduin seriously. "Since I lost my family, you're the closest thing to one now. Even if it's dangerous, I want to go with you, it's not as if someone is waiting for me. Also, what is life without a little risk? I would go with you to the end of the world if necessary." Anduin and Tess looked at Dereck with a certain emotion and affection.

"Wow, I feel so integrated in that conversation." Wrathion cut sarcastically. Tess threw him a pillow.

"You just broke this precious moment, animal!"

"I hope your scales fell!" Anduin exclaimed. Tess looked at him wondering if that was really an offense.

"Come on, you don't have to get emotional." said Wrathion. "If you want to come, welcome aboard. Now, if you don't mind continuing..."

"Sure..." Dereck returned to the map. "Where was I... Ah, this stain up here I think is that Necropolis they talk about, the temple where they worship a Loa." he pointed out. "And this area to the east where it looks like three islands... from the border you could see that in reality it was that the sea flooded the land, the lines that separate them I would say are kind of big rivers."

"Didn't you draw the place?" Tess asked. Dereck looked through the folder again and left a couple of drawings.

"This is how Nazmir looked from our position."

Everyone looked at the first drawing closely, it looked like a very beautiful picture. The draw clearly showed the puddled and deforested part Dereck mentioned, then a sudden wall of trees and a pyramid peeking above the trees, but it was impossible to look beyond. In the other drawing they could see more or less the supposed rivers, although it seemed rather that the sea ate the land.

"You draw very well, Dereck." Anduin praised and Dereck smiled slightly.

"One of my buried dreams was to be a painter until I discovered that you couldn't really live on it."

"That’s a shame." Anduin looked at Wrathion pointing to the drawing. "Do you think we could enter through the rivers?"

"Maybe." answered Wrathion. "But I would avoid being so exposed. It would be going through there and hiding quickly in any case."

"We have stealth and camouflage tools if needed." Dereck suggested.

"I think my magic will be enough." Wrathion winked at everyone.

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By the time they reached the south of the Mariner’s Row, the horizon was turning orange. That particular area was considerably quieter than the rest of Boralus. Between commercial areas and areas riddled with criminals, the southern part of Boralus was undoubtedly the least problematic.

The four had been waiting for Taelia for a long time. Although the agreed time had already passed, they didn't bother, they knew the harbor was a chaos of work. After sitting for a while throwing stones into the sea competing to see who went the furthest, which was Wrathion, Taelia appeared running towards them. She guided them with quite a mystery to what appeared to be an old warehouse two meters from the sea. A couple of burly men were transporting boxes filled with fish from the warehouse to a small cart when one of them, the smallest, was surprised to see Taelia, who waved at him.

"Well, well, the tides bring you here once again!" exclaimed the man as he shook her hand.

"Several months have passed since we met." Taelia answered with a shrug.

"It has rained since then... how is Flynn?"

"Well, being the usual madman, as usual." the man looked in the direction of the others.

"Friends of yours? But I think they aren't from Kul Tiras."

"Members of the Alliance, the blonde is the king of Stormwind." the man opened his mouth in surprise and addressed Anduin almost prostrating himself at his feet.

"It is an honor, your majest-"

"It’s not necessary!" Anduin cut nervous. The man got up.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"You should ask me that." said Taelia. "Do you remember that you owe me a favor?"

"I remember." he looked at his companion. "Take the food to the center, I'll join you later." the companion dragged the cart with some difficulty.

"Well, I need you to return it today."

"What are you up to?"

"It's for my friends, they need a ship to go to Nazmir." he raised an eyebrow.

"There are less painful ways to commit suicide."

"Just leave them the ship, Luter, you owe me one."

He scratched his head doubtfully and guided them to the back of the warehouse. There was a small dock there with a ship a little larger than a fishing one, but looked deteriorated. As the four of them closely inspected, Luter asked Taelia if they were crazy and if she was going. Taelia couldn't go with them because she had work to do and he seemed to calm down.

"It's a good ship." he commented.

"Still floating?" Wrathion asked. "Looks older than Galakrond."

"This ship has gone through storms and extreme conditions at sea, it's the best ship. Sorry if this sounds bad but… do any of these continentals know how to maneuver a ship or navigate?"

"If it's a ship toy, yes." Dereck replied. Luter looked at Taelia.

"Do I really have to lend them my ship?"

"You owe me a big favor for that incident."

"They will have to take a captain, but if I can avoid it..."

"Thanks, Luter, the debt is paid."

"But my shi-"

"We will take good care of it, I promise." Anduin said, approaching.

There was such a shimmer of gratitude in Anduin's eyes when he made that promise that Luter was unable to say anything else, he had seen the light. Now that they had a ship, everything was practically solved. Taelia approached them.

"With this my debt to you for saving me it's paid." she said happily.

"There was no debt to pay." Anduin replied. "We did it because it was the right thing to do. But also, thank you very much for this favor."

"It was nothing, but be very careful there, there are horrible stories."

"Everything is under control." assured Tess. "When we return we'll laugh at the worries."

"I know the perfect bar for that." Taelia looked at Tess. "I hope you like Aurora Borealis." Tess placed her hand on Taelia' shoulder.

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Now they just had to make sure they brought everything they needed, found a captain available, and Anduin one hundred percent recovered. They considered it wouldn't take more than two days.

The next day was just to prepare. Wrathion took Anduin to train. Since the young king already knew the weak points of the body quite well, he tried to perfect his technique. Although Anduin was still a bit clumsy when it came to fighting, some progress could be seen. With the self-confidence he found it was easier to get rid of the thought that he would hurt himself and even try to go beyond what he usually allowed himself. Also, all he had to do to regain his strength was to eat more than usual.

Tess and Dereck collected all of their available knives and small guns and blew them up with the Azerite they found. They decided to look for some captain insane enough to take them and the news became clear in the afternoon. A captain at the gates of his retirement offered to take them, for a large amount of gold, to Nazmir. Furthermore, it was confirmed that they would have a very provisional camp once they arrived.

A few days ago, a small group of the Explorers' League led by Brann Bronzebeard was stuck in the place because the captain of their ship fled away, so now they had a rescue mission too. Nobody objected about it because they would find a camp.

The problem came when they tried to decide when they should go. Most agreed to get up early like they never did before and go, but Wrathion opposed it. The dragon considered that it was best to go in the middle of the night claiming that they shouldn’t be seen by anyone. They had to minimize light while sailing so that no ship in the Zandalari fleet could spot them, find the temporary camp, and sleep there for the rest of the night. There was a certain risk of going at dawn while the sun was rising and Wrathion wanted to decrease the chances of screwing up. When they discussed it with Genn, the old wolf agreed with Wrathion for those same reasons, although he didn’t like the fact that they should sleep there.

As soon as night fell on Boralus, the small group prepared to leave. Dereck, with Wrathion's help, loaded extra supplies for the people they found alive there while Tess and Anduin were still trying to reassure Genn, who went to say goodbye. Genn would do Anduin a favor, cover up their departure as long as he could, but everyone would most likely find out sooner or later and be angry.

As Dereck stopped carrying boxes, Genn shook his hand, wishing him good luck. Dereck smiled at him and promised they would look for each other before boarding. Genn looked at Tess next.

"My daughter." Genn called approaching her to give her a hug. "Be very careful there, please."

"It's all alright." Tess hugged him tightly. "We'll be fine, I assure you."

"I hope so, and watch everyone." Tess understood what he meant exactly.

"I will..." Genn kept hugging her and Tess began to notice that she couldn't move. "Dad, you can let me go."

"Oh." Genn released her and Tess smiled at him before boarding the ship. Genn turned to look at Anduin. "And you, if you die, I kill you, understood?"

"What if I don't die?" Anduin replied smiling.

"Well then, remind me to give you a hug."

"How about a little preview now?" they both gave each other a short hug. "When I come back I'll give you the rest."

"You better come back."

Anduin smiled at him once more and helped the poor captain up the small ship ramp. Genn stared with some concern, he didn't like any of this, but he ended up accepting it. Wrathion walked by him and the old wolf stared at him with a frown. Wrathion raised an eyebrow when he caught Genn's gaze.

"Do you want me to give you a hug too?" asked the dragon sarcastic.

Genn, in response, started to laugh, though Wrathion didn't know if it was because of the suggestion or because the idea really amused him. As soon as Genn stopped, he gave Wrathion's shoulder a hit without malice.

"Good luck and make sure nothing happens to them."

Wrathion only smiled wryly until Anduin led him to the ship by grabbing him by the scarf as he said goodbye to Genn again. Once everyone was on board, they left.

The night breeze was quite cold. Anduin had to rub his arms several times because of it as he looked to the crescent moon peeking through the clouds. Wrathion was leaning beside him, letting the air ruffle his hair. Anduin touched Wrathion's left eyebrow with his index finger.

"I hadn't realized you have a scar there, it's always covered by your fringe, how did you get it?"

"An accident with N’Zoth, for a change."

"Is there something he didn't do to you?" Wrathion reflected.

"The only thing he hasn't done is try to sleep with me, for now." Anduin laughed as he rested his forehead on the wooden railing of the boat.

"That would be very troublesome, or do you want to try?"

"Gods... No." they both laughed lightly.

With the favorable wind, they entered the Zandalari waters soon. As soon as a ship was sighted in the distance, they removed all the lights and minimized the noise they could make as much as possible. Wrathion stayed in the bow to guide the captain because he was able to see perfectly in the dark and used magic to make them almost invisible.

They would reach Nazmir at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, they can't go alone to Nazmir of course, but everything with friends is okay. Genn worries a lot for Anduin, but in the end he's just a softie and let him do what he wants.  
See you next chapter in Nazmir crazy adventures


	20. Tabula rasa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you're fine with this quarantine even if it looks like it will take a lot of time unfortunately. I hope I can provide some entretainment now.  
Sorry for grammar and words mistakes here, this chapter had a lot of vocabulary I honestly didn't know and I had to trust google a lot so... i don't know how is it, but can't make it better, I hope is understandable anyway!

The silence of the night was haunting, there was no sound of any animal, just a pure silence that made anyone nervous. Everyone changed their clothes, Tess and Dereck wore their classic dark clothes from the SI:7 and several knives and daggers hidden among them. Anduin just wore black pants and a brown jacket with Shalamayne tied on his back. He ended up putting the hood on because of the cold. Wrathion was still on the bow trying to lead in the dark.

They used the same route as the Explorers' League to get there, a river in the north that would take them to some ruins where they established the camp. There wasn't more information unfortunately, so they would do some research. With the exception of Anduin, everyone knew how to follow trails, so it wouldn't be a big problem.

  
The further they went into Nazmir, the heavier the air was. Anduin began to think that this could be one of the reasons why nobody wanted to go, it was a nauseating air. The river was getting shallower and the captain had to maneuver a lot. The vegetation didn't make it easy either, several fallen trees and leaves slowed the path. Despite that, they made their way to a point where the river reached what looked like a small lake where the other rivers met. Thanks to the moonlight, they were able to spot ruins near the water. For safety, the captain was told to stay somewhat away in case they needed to flee. After doing a small maneuver between the leaves, the boat stayed cutting the pass in the river, so it would be easier to turn around and the four young people stepped on land.   
  
Much of the earth was puddled with rain and everyone's boots sank into the mud making it difficult to walk. They advanced as quietly as they could until they could approach the ruins. Anduin looked around, although he couldn't see anyone, he felt someone was observing. Even if the young king was perfectly aware that it was a dangerous mission, he couldn't help but feel excited to be there, he had never taken part in something like this in his life. Anduin collided with Wrathion as he looked around distracted, the dragon raised a hand for them to stop. The others looked everywhere alarmed but no one was there. Wrathion bent down and removed, from the mud, a piece of cloth originally white with blue stripes. Anduin recognized a pike and hammer, the symbol of the Explorers' League.

The group stealthily got close to the nearby ruins. From what it looked like, it was probably thousands of years old, Nazmir may have once been a thriving civilization until the blood trolls settled. The croaking of frogs was the only audible thing in the area now as they walked for several minutes, until suddenly, a gun load was heard behind a wall.

The four of them hid behind a small wall instantly, someone spotted them and was ready to open fire. Anduin suspected, would any troll use a fire gun? Logic told him no, it wasn't normal for them to use gadgets like that, it wasn't their style.

"Maybe they’re from the Explorers' League, we found their symbol not much ago." whispered Anduin.

"I wouldn't take the risk, Anduin." Tess replied quietly.

"Who's there!?" was heard from afar. Anduin noticed the accent of the dwarves in the voice and was convinced. Without saying anything, he came out from his hiding place with his hands raised before anyone in the group stopped him.

"Wait! We are not enemies!" a dwarf was glimpsed between the walls.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Anduin took off his hood.

"Hi, I'm Anduin." Wrathion looked at Tess and Dereck surprised.

"Did he just say 'hi, I'm Anduin'?" he asked, almost indignant. Tess and Dereck were open mouthed.

"Anduin?" another confused voice sounded and a dwarf leaned out. "Anduin!" the dwarf ran towards him. "By my beard!"

"Brann!" they both hugged for a few seconds, but Brann backed away.

"Wait a minute, what are you doing here?"

"We were looking for you." Anduin gestured for the others to stop hiding.

"I expected someone to come rescue us after being trapped for a few days, but I didn't expect it to be you. Is there any extra reason?"

"It is... a long story."

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The situation was quickly explained as Brann and the other dwarves led the small group and the ship near the camp in the ruins. That place was ideal, maybe it had been a Keep long time ago, and except for the roof, most of the walls were in place. Being between four walls was safer and would be easier to guard. Anduin tried to explain to Brann what they were doing there, omitting important details of their reasons or G’huun. It all came down to the fact that they wanted to personally investigate the blood trolls. Fortunately, Brann knew the position of nearby troll camps.

Once they settled in the provisional camp and the ship stayed close, they started to build a couple of tents against the stone wall, they were all tired and wanted to sleep. As they built a small tent, Wrathion grabbed Anduin for a second.

"You have been very lucky." he began. "It was the dwarves who were there and you were lucky, but, never again expose yourself like that and even less say your name." Wrathion was so serious when speaking that Anduin felt uncomfortable.

"I was sure it was them... I wouldn't have done it if I hesitated."

"He's right, Anduin." Tess said as she got up. "Even if you're very sure, never do it, it could have been a trick perfectly. Just don't do it again."

Anduin nodded, understood that they were right, it was a rookie mistake to expose himself like this. But his hunches rarely failed him and he didn't want to risk being in a crossfire because of a mistake.

Wrathion offered to stand guard while everyone slept since he didn't want to sleep in such a place, thus, everyone went to bed.

It was the middle of the night when Anduin woke up almost completely. Although he had been with one eye half open all the time and having spontaneous dreams, this time he couldn't close his eyes at all. Partly it was because he was in enemy territory and wanted to stay alert, but on the other hand, many branches and small stones kept bothering and he couldn't find the perfect posture. After a yawn, he decided to go outside because he was feeling bored.

The frogs' croaks multiplied along with sounds he couldn't quite identify and it was colder. Anduin rubbed his arms and caught sight of Wrathion sitting on top of a stone wall, his gaze fixed on the swamp. As Anduin reached the wall, the dragon looked at him.

"What are you doing awake?"

"I can't sleep." Wrathion raised an eyebrow. "No matter where I lie down, there is always a stupid branch that sticks out or small stones disfiguring my back."

"The possibility of moving didn't cross your mind from what I see." Anduin laughed very sarcastically a few seconds before trying to climb the slippery wall. He couldn't climb up but Wrathion helped him with one hand until he was at his side. "Look."

Wrathion tilted his head for him to look into the swamp. Anduin was speechless. The mist covered the ground completely and fell between the trees like a waterfall. It looked like glass from his point of view. Any thought that they were actually in a very dangerous place almost vanished. If he could, he would have decided to lose himself in the fog to investigate. Suddenly, the little adventure became very special with such views.

"Wow..." Anduin sighed. "It's beautiful."

"This reminds me of Sholazar Basin. Especially at dawn, the entire jungle is covered in a mist like this, it looked like the ocean itself. I liked waking up early just to see it." Anduin looked at Wrathion, curiously.

"So you were in Sholazar too."

"I was living there for a while."

"Why?" Wrathion hesitated.

"Because I was recovering from injuries."

"What happened?" Wrathion looked aside. "You always look away when I ask you something from your past."

"You should go to sleep."

"And you always change the subject." the two stared at each other in silence. "I don't know if you're afraid to say it or something worse, but I wouldn't judge you."

"I had a wound, nothing else." another silence. "Seriously, you should sleep, it will be a long day tomorrow."

"And you're going to sleep?"

"I have my own way to rest, I don't need a sleep cycle like humans, an advantage that I have."

"I just want to stay a while longer."

The two remained in a comfortable silence watching the landscape until Anduin began to feel asleep and his eyelids began to close. After a few minutes, he went to sleep.

Wrathion settled more on the stone once he was alone and continued to look at the mist. He didn't like to lie so blatantly to Anduin about what happened. Even if the wound thing was true, it was much better if he never knew why he was wounded. Also, Anduin didn't notice, but through the mist, Wrathion sighted trolls multiple times. He didn't give an alert because they weren't approaching, they were only routine patrols and thanks to the invisibility spell that he had created a few hours before, the trolls weren't aware of his presence. It was for the best, as long as they didn't get close, everything would be fine.

The only bad thing is that there were many.

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When they started waking up in the morning, everyone felt terribly exhausted. They didn't know if it was because of sleeping on the floor or if the air made them feel that way. Although it was morning, Anduin found that between the gray clouds, the trees and the gloomy environment of the place, it actually looked like it was still night. Everyone prepared their things to get going. Brann said that his group didn't go too deep into Nazmir because of the trolls, and Anduin suggested they protect the ship and take care of the captain. In case things went wrong, he indicated that they had to go upstream to reach the sea and that they would meet there. In gratitude, Brann confirmed that if they followed the path on the left, it would lead them to a blood troll camp, on the right they would find a rather abandoned path they didn't follow until the end and if they went straight they would find a path to some very large type of building they never investigated because it was full of enemies. Wrathion wove another protective spell for the place as they discussed which path to choose.

"I think we should go to the center." Tess suggested. "Didn't you say that's where G’huun was?" she asked Wrathion.

"That's right, but I wouldn't go after him now. Investigating the troll camps doesn't seem like a bad idea to me either."

"Go for G’huun, no." Dereck clarified. "Rather, see how the place is, see the entrances to Uldir..."

"Well." Wrathion finished the spell and looked at everyone. "That plan is fine, too." the dragon looked at Anduin. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"No." The young king replied. "Investigating the surroundings of where G’huun is located is a good idea."

"Well, if the light-boy agrees, there’s nothing more to say."

"What kind of name is that?" Tess asked half laughing.

"The nicknames that Wrathion gives." the young king answered annoyed.

"But they are great." defended himself. He pointed to Anduin. "Light-boy." he pointed to Tess. "Wolf cub." when pointing to Dereck, he hesitated for a few seconds. "Stalker?" Dereck looked hurt.

"That was a job!"

"I feel the indignation, you stay with that name forever." Dereck stood with his mouth open while the others laughed.

"So what nickname would you give to Sylvanas?" Tess asked. Wrathion thought about it.

"Dictator? Forsaken Garrosh? Warshame? Primitive? Maybe something like primitive since all her ideas are of that kind." Wrathion started walking outside the camp and the others followed him. "I Sylvanas. I throw torch." Wrathion's primitive tone made others laugh.

They took their weapons and carried small backpacks with food and a tent before leaving. The path was fairly uneven when they started to follow it. Between earth and the remains of what seemed to be a very old stone path, they kept going up and down looking where they stepped. On more than one occasion, someone stuck a foot in a puddle or was almost trapped in the mud without being able to get out. That was something that slowed them down quite a bit, but after a long walk, they arrived at the Heart of Darkness. It was a fairly large and tall structure in black and gold colors and was located in what appeared to be a moat. The four at first saw what appeared to be a way to the site, but it was full of trolls, so they decided to circle the area to the left and watch from the edge where they could stay hidden. Upon reaching a flat rock with good views, they lied down on the rock and saw the place. Down there an army of blood trolls and other somewhat strange creatures were gathering. Some trolls were riding dinosaurs that looked decomposing or some kind of giant leeches with big legs and saw a type of sinister spiders flying around. The building had a circle in the middle that shone bright gold.

"Hey." Tess said quietly looking at Dereck. "Didn't you tell me it was a pyramid and had a peak?"

"I swear to you, the last time I saw it, it had one. Maybe... they destroyed it? I haven't looked in a long time."

"I think that's the reason." Wrathion pointed over the building, there was a kind of giant that was bleeding. "By its structure, it's a titan construct."

"And what is it doing there?" Anduin asked.

"It looks like it's corrupted, look at the blood that 'gushes' from it. It may have protected Uldir in the past, but it has fallen, G'huun's blood magic will have made it vulnerable over the years."

"Uldir is this building?" Tess asked. Wrathion shook his head.

"No, Uldir is under this building. Can you see any entry?"

All four looked meticulously, but they couldn't see any entrance leading underground. The number of trolls and creatures made it difficult to see and they got closer to the edge.

"Oh my..." Tess whispered in surprise. "Is that the C'Thraxxi everyone talked about?" Tess pointed to a part almost behind the building. A large beast slowly walked around the area.

"Mythrax…" Wrathion murmured. "I didn't think I would see it someday. Well, we can confirm that Vol’dun's seal is very broken. And the attack on Dazar’alor that Zul organized… obviously the intention was to break the seal of Zuldazar. And the one in front of us now is more than broken."

"In front of us?" Anduin looked confused at the place. Wrathion approached him, pointing to the center of the building where the golden light was gushing out.

"You see that? The power there is titanic. It's a seal and it would be contained if it hadn't been broken."

"Is there any chance to repair it?" Dereck asked curiously, Wrathion snorted.

"I don't think so, it’s a titanic device and I suppose it works according to their power, but I'm not completely sure of it, I should find the root and check it myself." they all fell silent as they watched.

"I think the entrance isn't in plain sight." Dereck said. "If it's something that goes underground, I think it could be in that area over there." everyone looked where he indicated, an area at the other end. "Do you see that there is a hole in the ground? There are several wooden ramps built, it could be there."

"Guys." Tess called, pointing slightly backward. "Horde." looking back, they saw Horde troops from afar alongside Zandalaris. Wrathion sighed.

"Let's move. Let's try to circle to the right, better not go where the Horde comes from."

The four of them stood up and moved quickly to the trees. If the Horde was prowling near it meant something clear: Brann told them that there was a trolling camp on the left and they were coming from there, perhaps the Horde attacked them and left without apparent losses. In a few seconds, when they started walking, a few drops of rain fell on them and they tried to cover themselves among the trees and put on the hoods.

"I hope this rain doesn't get worse." Dereck said.

"It's just a few drops, it can stop quickly." Tess answered.

"Or bring something worse, remember that in Gilneas the big storms always started like this." Wrathion turned around and looked at him curious.

"Are you from Gilneas?" he asked, confused. Dereck nodded.

"Yes, I was born there."

"Ah, how curious, because of your features I thought you were from..." Wrathion shut up.

"Alterac? My parents are from there, but they moved to Gilneas before I was born a few years before the wall was built."

Wrathion nodded. From the moment he saw him, he was sure Dereck was from Alterac and he was amused that someone from a treasonous kingdom was in the SI:7 considering how strict they were in the Alliance with these issues, but that explained it.

_Don't let them leave Uldir._

Anduin looked towards the building again upon hearing that. He didn't know exactly from who the voice came from, but he had heard it. Since he was slightly behind the rest and the voice came from behind him, it meant that it couldn't be from his friends, apart from that, they didn't seem to notice. Did he only hear it? Or was his imagination? Being slightly behind, he decided to speed up and forget it.

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Anduin was feeling quite tired. They never imagined that Nazmir was so big and it took them longer to go around the Heart of Darkness area than anyone imagined. Noon ended when they began to eat something. Anduin thought he would be hungry for the rest of the day. They came to discover a couple of small blood troll camps and the famous temple where a Loa was worshiped. It was a Necropolis like place and it was scary to get close while watching the trolls' spirits walk towards the place, they decided to ignore it and focus on the troll camps.

They needed information or to see what their lives were like. They headed east of the Necropolis, crossing a puddled area filled with giant lizards and pythons. Between that and the rain, they barely glimpsed that they were almost two meters from the trolls. They hid to watch them closely.

Looking over, they seemed to have a very primitive lifestyle, they were nothing but sadists. They didn't use any type of technology, only dangerous blood magic, some sacrifices, self-harm to draw their own blood, skinning living beings and even cannibalism. If there was one thing that caught their attention, it was that the men followed the orders of the women without questioning anything, and when one dared to do it, the woman in front of him took out her dagger and cut his neck. They also saw some practices where women used to create living bloods with the same shape of the sha, something that caught Anduin's attention. They couldn't stand too long watching the trolls' questionable ways, and as soon as it stopped raining after several minutes, they retreated hiding under the roots of a nearby tree.

"Can we not observe these savages for the rest of our lives? Please." Tess asked as it gave her a chill.

"I think we have all the necessary information." Wrathion replied. "I'm pretty sure what we should do." the three looked at the dragon. "Since we couldn't see where Uldir's entrance was, my suggestion would be to kidnap one of these and make them speak."

"It's an option, do we take one of the men?"

"Actually, I would take three men and one woman." they all blinked in confusion.

"Why so many?" Anduin asked.

"My way of interrogating requires some people, they will say everything we need."

"But if men listen to women, if she forbids them to say anything, it doesn't matter, even if you torture them." Dereck said worried. "Wouldn't it be better with one?"

"I'm in charge of interrogating them, it's important that I get a woman."

"Well, if by hierarchy the woman is more important, we should take one." Tess concluded. "They’re very similar to the Kaldorei, priestesses have more authority because they have more connection with the deity and the others pay attention to them for it."

"Yes, they’re similar to the Kaldorei with Elune but in a more sadistic way." Wrathion added. "But I think there’s another reason why they have more authority."

"Which one?" Wrathion scratched his chin.

"From what I have seen and considering the magic they use is blood and they worship G’huun… I think women are also more important by nature. Women can 'create' more blood monthly and, from time to time, create life too."

"Wait." Tess raised her hand. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Wrathion raised his eyebrows.

"Oh." said Dereck. "I understand, that's a bit… Well, I admit it has a lot of logic, but you have to be crazy to... Ugh..."

"Wait a minute." Anduin interrupted. "I'm not following you." Wrathion looked at him.

"Women menstruate, which creates more extra blood. They also have the power to create a life from time to time, so apart from creating more blood for that, it's also a new life that they can sacrifice G’huun, or take blood or resort to cannibalism. They have that power and use it for these kinds of needs. Between this and having more affinity as priestesses, women always enjoy more authority in societies where blood magic is pioneering."

"That's..." Anduin frowned in disgust. "Too twisted, how can they do this?"

"This is their society."

Anduin felt he wanted to puke, he couldn't understand and calmly accept their society, it was too twisted. After a while, they made a small plan to attract some clueless troll and knock them out. Tess and Dereck had experience in that field, so it wouldn't be hard, the difficult thing would be to attract one of the priestesses.

Fortunately, that camp was near a river. Some trolls walked away for a few seconds to get water or to wash, so they approached to wait for a victim.

It was a task that took much of the afternoon. Tess and Dereck, with their invisibility and distraction techniques, managed to take two after knocking them out without being seen. There was a third who noticed the presence of Tess and tried to flee, but Wrathion threw his dagger hitting the troll's leg and they managed to drag him, Wrathion cast a spell to make them fall asleep.

The priestesses didn't usually go out of the camp much, only one went far and it was to give directions to a sentry. That's when Anduin had to use a certain skill: mind control. It had been a long time since he last used it, he didn't like to use Void techniques and normally he had to be very close to the victim, but since lately he had to practice with the powers of the Void and learn to free people, perhaps he could be capable. There was a priestess who walked away, it seemed that she was looking for someone, Anduin took the moment to try. The concentration wasn't perfect and Anduin could perceive it, she was quite far away and only with eye contact he couldn't take full control. He began to hear remnants of the priestess' thoughts from far away and understood that he was on the right track, Anduin would only have to force her to move to where he was.

"Go to the tree next to the river." Anduin ordered in a very low voice. She seemed to obey at first, and with dubious steps, she began to approach, but after a few steps, she stopped, Anduin perceived that she was resisting when she noticed that something was wrong. "Everything is fine, come closer, there is someone there."

She moved closer and Dereck flanked. As the priestess left the camp, Anduin's mental effort began to crack slightly and he thought he couldn't take it anymore, but to his fortune, Dereck knocked her out from behind. Anduin, as soon as he cut everything, leaned against the tree, panting, it had been difficult.

"You've done great, Anduin." Wrathion praised.

"You owe me five meals for this."

Wrathion smirked, carried the priestess to nearby rocks, and left her with the others.

They chose some rocks that formed a closed space to interrogate. Wrathion asked them to watch if anyone approached. The three of them stayed together to wait as the sky grew increasingly orange. Anduin tried to explain to them in the meantime what it felt like to do mind control and how the thoughts mixed in his head until, after a long time, they heard a muffled shot. The three of them turned around, it was coming from where Wrathion was. Anduin got up to check what was happening with some fear. As he circled one of the walls, he saw that Wrathion shoot the priestess and just then opened fire to kill one of the trolls. The other two trolls appeared to be scared and Wrathion aimed at the head of one.

"Are you going to tell me the truth?" Wrathion asked, cold. The troll stuttered at first before clearing his voice.

"B-but it's the truth, there are only two entrances, isn't a lie!

"Too bad." Wrathion opened fire without blinking and the troll fell dead.

"But what are you doing?" Anduin asked scared, Wrathion ignored him.

"Well, only you are left. If you tell me the truth, I will let you go as promised, otherwise you will end up as your friends here dead."

"I... they didn't lie to you, they never lied. There are two, one on the foot of the Heart of Darkness and the other in the Underrot, I swear!" Wrathion lowered the gun.

"Thanks for your contribution." the troll calmed down for a few seconds thinking he was safe before Wrathion shot him in the head.

"But what are you doing!?" Wrathion looked at Anduin.

"I know how to enter Uldir. All four have ended up saying the same thing to me. There’s an entrance on foot of the building, which I presume will be guarded, and then there’s another one in some place called Underrot."

"But... You just killed four trolls as if they're nothing!"

"And?" Anduin blinked in surprise, the indifference that Wrathion showed came to worry him. "They aren't useful and better if they’re dead. Now we just have to find the entrance."

Wrathion went out to look for the others leaving the young king almost in shock. Anduin couldn't believe he did that with such confidence without trembling, it was as if a life meant absolutely nothing and Anduin remembered that bad feeling when it came to killing someone. The young king used to have trouble accepting it, but for Wrathion it was as easy as breathing and he didn't understand how the dragon could step on someone else’s life like that.  
Tess and Dereck were concerned at first but Wrathion calmed them down with the news. Just because it was going to be dark soon, they proposed that it was best to find a good place to rest since they were quite far away from the camp and had a small tend. Before starting, Anduin stopped Wrathion and looked at him seriously.

"Don't ever do that again without even telling us. You can't go around killing right and left without valuing anything, maybe they could have told us something else or perhaps investigate more of their conduct between them or know about G’huun. Don't do it again." Wrathion went from having an indifferent expression to being surprised. He took a deep breath.

"Okay." after saying that, it was Anduin who was surprised, he didn't expect him to accept.

"Good." there was a silence. "Give me your gun."

Wrathion grabbed his gun at the back of the belt and gave it to him without objection. Anduin was perfectly aware that, if it was necessary, Wrathion could kill anyone he wanted with his own hands. But Anduin did it to make clear that he was serious and to make him understand that he can't have such an attitude. But mostly because the young king wanted to avoid thinking that Wrathion could be a ruthless assassin. They started walking south in almost deathly silence, no one dared say a word for some reason and they were tired. The night was getting closer.

After quite some time, they found a good site among ruins. It was similar to the temporary camp, but narrower, ideal for hiding. When the night began to fall, the rain returned with more intensity.

They tried to hurry up when setting up the small tent wedged between two walls while Wrathion cast a protective spell to stay hidden. Once the tent was up, they sheltered from the rain and finally rested. Wrathion came in after a few minutes soaked to the bone and shook his head like a dog until Tess asked him to stop. Wrathion made a small fire for everyone and sat down while Anduin brought out the little food they had.

"You owe me all five meals after making me starve like this."

"Starve he says…" Tess laughed. "You were the one who wanted to come, now don't complain." Anduin looked at her with a frown as he devoured bread.

"That reminds me of something." Dereck commented. "We came here for investigation, but the truth is that I don't know anything about this G’huun, and if we aren't going to see him, this could be a failure. I don't even know how it is, it makes me think that this trip is useless."

"I know where G'huun came from." Wrathion said. "I came to see the blood trolls, the place and know where the entrance to Uldir is. I don't need to know anything about G’huun."

"Well, I think here, except you, nobody knows anything about that bug." Tess said, sad. "The truth is that I'm very curious, what is it? Where did it come from? And what is Uldir?" Wrathion scratched his head.

"I wouldn't even know where to start..."

"By the beginning, Wrathion." Anduin suggested, Wrathion raised an eyebrow with a sarcastic expression. Anduin saw what he was going to do and stopped him. "Go straight to the point."

"Let's see... Uldir was created first, after the Titans locked the old gods and assigned the guardians." everyone paid attention. "There was a problem with the earth at first, as the old gods practically corrupted everything with their presence, it made that some life forms couldn't evolve because they weren't compatible with the planet back then.

"Do you mean that there are a type of living beings that cannot live in Azeroth?" Tess asked.

"All living beings that exist now have a blood that is compatible with Azeroth's now, that's why we're all here. Let's take an example that… Umm, a deer wasn't compatible. Since the earth was corrupted, the deer couldn't survive here, it would deform and die. The same goes for plants, if they don't adhere well to the ground, they wouldn't exist. In fact, if a human had been born at that time, just because of the contamination there was, they wouldn't have survived, humans wouldn't exist."

"But now here we are." Anduin said.

"That's because things went well. Corruption ended up dissipating after a time once nature began its 'life' and animals were born. Uldir was created to achieve that, it's an installation that the Titans used to find out which beings could walk through Azeroth since the beginning to help remove corruption and investigate the old gods. Think of Uldir as a kind of hospital to help Azeroth get started."

"Well, it turned out well."

"Yes. At first they used blood from beings from other planets to mix it with the blood of Azeroth and see which ones were compatible to leave them on earth and make their life."

"Wait a minute." Dereck interrupted. "Does that mean we have animals from other planets?"

"More or less. At first they were created, but over time they reproduced and evolved to what they're today. They were very basic animals, wolves, deer, horses... it's normal."

"That's incredible! Although they were playing something dangerous... If it went wrong then what?"

"It was then discarded or postponed for a future, the Titans acted like this."

"So," Tess intervened. "what is G’huun?"

"A messed up thing when they were playing with blood. Did you know that the Titan Aman’Thul ripped Y’Shaarj off the planet?"

"Oh yeah." Anduin said. "The wound he left later became the Well of Eternity."

"Exactly. There was a piece that detached from Y’Shaarj and was later found by a guardian. He gave it to the Titans and they took it to Uldir to do experiments… Many of those experiments were with blood while trying to find out what mixture could weaken the old gods and to find out exactly how they worked until, suddenly, inside that piece strange things began to happen and finally one day came to life."

"Wow, you mean..." Tess cut. "G’huun is a reanimated piece of Y’Shaarj…" Wrathion nodded.

"A Y’Shaarj of blood?" Anduin sighed. "That's why the blood they create resembles the sha..."

"G’huun is like an avatar." Wrathion continued. "And from the beginning he showed a serious identity problem. Not knowing what he was or why he looked like a decomposing being, the Titans quarantined him for close investigation. As time went by, G’huun was forming and becoming more aware. The problems began when G’huun started asking questions."

"What kind of questions?" Dereck wanted to know.

"The type of 'What am I?', 'Where am I?', 'Am I alive?'"

"Couldn't G'huun know what it was?"

"No, he isn’t like you or me, we know what we are from the beginning and our way of being and any action we do has a reason because we have memories that can justify it. But G’huun was created out of nowhere, without memories or awareness of what it's to be alive, without genetic memory. I can't even imagine what it's like to be so confused with your own existence. The more questions G’huun asked, the worse it got. Also, since the experiments were with blood, that gave him an affinity over blood magic. Once he was aware of it, he attacked the Titans."

"Why?"

"Confusion, fear and because he realized that he was being used. There were also two external factors."

"And they were?" Tess asked.

"Y’Shaarj and N’Zoth contacted him. On Y’Shaarj’s part it’s obvious, G’huun is a part of him so it was simple, and well, N’Zoth detected him because of the negative emotions he had."

"I believed that the old gods had no emotions."

"G’huun is not a true old god and his emotions come from the bloods that they mixed in him, but he doesn't know what emotions are and much less knows how to manage them or even know what it's to have an emotion. The old gods took advantage of it and made him join them, unfortunately."

"Wait a minute." Anduin cut holding up a finger. "I remember one thing you said in the meeting with the leaders. When Tyrande asked you about the relationship between G’huun and N’Zoth, you said that you don't currently know, what happened then? Were they friends before and not anymore?"

"This final part is very blurred. The Titans ended up closing Uldir and put the three seals around Zandalar to keep G’huun locked up. But I don't understand why, they could have kill G’huun and end the problem, but they left him alive and locked up. It's not a parasite like the others so I don't understand it. And if G’huun and N’Zoth were friends before, now I don't know if they're still the same. But the fact that N’Zoth has Zul nearby tells me that some kind of connection must still have."

"This is all amazing." Dereck said in amazement. "I mean, much more intriguing and interesting than any boring history class I was given at school. Although I admit it's a cruel story..."

"I agree." added Tess.

"Where could we find something about what happened in those days?" Anduin asked.

"Maybe inside Uldir there are records about what happened, meanwhile it's a mystery."

"And how do you know all this?" Tess wanted to know, Wrathion moved a little.

"I read it in titanic ruins."

"That's weird." Anduin intervened. "The Explorer's League visited each and every one of the ruins and never mentioned that they read something like that." Wrathion put on a half smile.

"That's because they didn't look very well."

Tess and Dereck didn't realize it because they didn't know Wrathion well, but Anduin knew he was lying. The dragon did something similar when Anduin asked him where he got so much information from the past when they trained one day and he avoided answering. Anduin didn't understand why he didn't want to say it, it wasn't as if someone was going to steal his knowledge. Anduin didn't want to know from where he got that information, he wanted to know why Wrathion didn't want to say it.

After eating, they decided to sleep at last. As it was raining heavily, Wrathion decided to stay inside and try to sleep. In the tent, there was a space in the middle and then two ends that would serve as beds.

"I'll share bed with Wrathion here." Anduin said as he tugged the dragon quite insistently.

"Are you sure? We can decide it with rock, paper or scissors." Tess suggested.

"No, doesn't matter, we're fine here."

Anduin pulled Wrathion back into the left end and closed the zipper. Wrathion stared at him quite confused and lowered his voice.

"What was that for?"

"Leave them."

Anduin just wanted to leave Dereck and Tess alone for fun and because he was sure he was doing them a favor, plus it was Wrathion who was by his side, something that didn't bother him.

As Anduin switched off the flashlight, they were in complete darkness and the sound of the rain was the only thing they could hear. Although this time there was no branch or stone on the ground, Anduin couldn't sleep. The rain made a lot of noise when it fell on the tent and kept thinking about G’huun's story because he considered unfair what the Titans did, he came to feel sorry for that creature. Maybe G'huun joined Y’Shaarj and N’Zoth because he felt lonely? Anduin couldn't sleep the more he thought about it. After several minutes, he turned to Wrathion. He couldn't see if the dragon was asleep, so he tapped his shoulder with one finger.

"What?" Anduin heard in the dark.

"I was just checking if you were asleep." he whispered.

"If I was sleeping, you would have woken me up with that." Wrathion also whispered.

"Right, sorry."

"Why are we whispering?"

"So that the others don't hear us if they're asleep." although he didn't see it, Anduin could hear that Wrathion got closer to him.

"Can't you sleep again?"

"No, I'm thinking too much."

"Leave your mind blank, I thought you could do that easily..." Wrathion said it with a mocking tone and Anduin hit him friendly and smiling.

"In which ruins did you read those things? I'm curious."

"In several, it's as if you tear apart the pages of a book and leave them all over the world. It's difficult to find and it's only rudimentary information that you link with time."

"So you've been all over the world?"

"Yes, everywhere."

"What’s your favorite place?" Anduin was curious for some reason.

"I suppose... I generally liked the forests more... Silverpine Forest, Ashenvale, Feralas... although I also like snowy places such as Winterspring and a large part of Northrend... Uldum had its charm too... I couldn't tell you, there are very beautiful places in this world."

Anduin was silent. He would have given anything to visit all those places. Wrathion's world was so vast compared to his that he couldn't help but feel envious. At least for now, he had gone to an unknown land and was living something like Wrathion, with the difference that he was accompanied.

A branch snapped near them, Anduin almost got up, alarmed.

"Don't worry." Wrathion said. "It's no one."

"How are you so sure?"

"My magic would warn me if someone got closer." Anduin lay down again, trying to calm down and got closer to Wrathion.

"Did you know these spells from the beginning?"

"Not all, I had to learn some and others I knew I had to practice them. I learned this protection spell from my father."

"Oh... of course, Deathwing used to protect his secrets a lot." Anduin didn't know how to speak about Deathwing when it was a delicate subject for Wrathion. "It was good that you learned those spells from him."

"I hate that I learned something from him that helps me." Anduin didn't know what to say and an awkward silence began to grow between them. Anduin settled himself, grasping the blanket tightly. "Try to sleep, Anduin."

"I'll try. Don't hog the entire blanket."

"I don't think I'm going to sleep."

Wrathion covered him with the rest of the blanket and Anduin was completely covered like a silk cocoon. Anduin sighed lightly and closed his eyes, the rain stopped a bit and it could be an opportunity to try to sleep. Wrathion, seeing perfectly in the dark, stared at him. He was suddenly sad and upset when he kept thinking about his father. Wrathion had to let it go and not think about what Deathwing did in the past, he had to overcome that bump of destruction within his own race, but there were times when his intrusive thoughts were quite overwhelming.

At a certain point almost at dawn, Wrathion's eyes were half closed, he was suddenly tired, he shouldn't sleep in such a place, but in the end, he fell.

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In the dark, Wrathion felt lonely. It wasn't the first time that he lost himself in the shadows of his mind, he had already been there every time he felt weak, now he just needed to wake up. Suddenly, he saw someone, a dragon. Wrathion dubiously approached to see who exactly was, he was a fairly large dragon and was suffering.

"He’s the reason you're here, isn't he?"

A very clear and sweet female voice came from Wrathion's right shoulder area. He wasn't surprised because he knew that at some point he would end up hearing that voice. Wrathion sighed.

"Who is the big dragon?" Wrathion wanted to know.

"Don't you recognize him? Look closely."

Wrathion hesitated and moved closer to the big dragon. He was quite old and radiated a lot of power despite being suffering at the time, his scales were a rather peculiar pale black that Wrathion identified.

"Deathwing…"

"Neltharion." the voice corrected. "That's Neltharion, suffering a very cruel fate." Wrathion frowned.

"He deserves to suffer." Wrathion turned his back on Neltharion. "I hate him, he condemned us, all this happened because of him. He betrayed his siblings and then his mission and the entire world."

"But that wasn't what you should learn from all this, remember?" Wrathion said nothing. "Why did Neltharion never decide to tell his doubts? The other aspects were like siblings to him, there was trust, why did he keep it? Did Neltharion think he could get through it on his own?"

"Maybe he considered it…"

"If there is something important to learn, it's to ask for help when one needs it, and the other aspects would have helped their brother Neltharion to resist the whispers of N’Zoth. That mistake is the one you should avoid, and you have people to count on even if you don't admit it, can you imagine what the world would be like now if Neltharion had asked for help? He had a family that would help him... Can you imagine what it's like to get help from people who love you?"

Wrathion looked at Neltharion, it was true that the world would be very different if Neltharion had asked for help. But after years of suffering the whispers, he ended up falling into the madness and got possessed. Maybe it was just that, deep down, every time Wrathion thought about his father he came to those conclusions. If he had people who would help him unconditionally, what was holding him back?

_Ah, but you don't have a family, do you, little one? How can you even imagine it?_

Wrathion tensed. That voice, that damn voice that was laughing, he had to wake up now.

_Don't leave so fast, you and I haven't spoken yet._

"Get out of my head, N’Zoth."

_No, my dear little one, it has been a long time since you felt so weak as to miss this opportunity._

Wrathion put his hands to his head and shook it. He already made a mistake by falling asleep, but now he couldn't let N’Zoth be in his head. He was trying by all means to wake up, but he wasn't succeeding. He closed his eyes very tightly and crouched down.

"Wake up, wake up…"

_Ah, I see that you are in Nazmir at last._

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Wrathion woke up scared. The daylight dimly illuminated the tent and realized he had finally come out of sleep, but at a big cost. Anduin beside him woke up as he noticed Wrathion's movement and yawned as he rubbed his eye.

"What's wrong?" asked the young king, half asleep.

"Shit…"

Wrathion quickly left the tent to see if anyone was there. He looked around nervously, but saw no one, they were alone in their position. Anduin caught up with him a little worried.

"Is something wrong?" Wrathion looked at him worried.

"N’Zoth knows I'm here." Anduin looked at him very confused. "I gave myself away."

At such a time, Wrathion began to understand why Neltharion never said anything. How to explain to people you appreciate that you screwed up so much and you had put them in serious danger?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe this last part is very confusing but it will have a lot of sense once the major plot is revelated, I'm a big fan of "oh I'm in chapter 50 and now I understand why in chapter 20 this happened" type of thing, I got used to it while watching Lost.  
On the other hand, Tabula rasa is a concept in philosophy I liked, like everyone borns with and "empty" head, no memory nor experience, that's how I would deffine G'huun. I was mad when playing Uldir at the time because Blizzard never gave a true Lore to G'huun, just an "experiment who got locked down" and nothing else really... So when I was writing this chapter like a year ago, I had a conversation with a friend about tabula rasa and thought "I could do something like this to G'huun" aaaand here we are. And why that thing about animals from other planets? Well, in Draenor and Argus we saw very similar animals to Azeroth so... why not? It would fill Uldir and G'huun's story here.  
Anyway, I'm talking to much, see you next time and take care!


	21. A door in the Underrot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you're okay. I'm arriving to the chapter I updated in the spanish one and finally update it at the same time TT then I will take it a bit more easy, i don't know why my brain puts me in a hurry...  
Anyway, this chapter took me a bit of time, translate fight scenes is just too hard, but I did what I could. Forgive my mistakes

They quickly removed the tent when Anduin woke up Tess and Dereck. Wrathion hadn't explained much when he said N’Zoth knew that the dragon was there because he didn't know how to explain it to Anduin. Wrathion only ended up saying he perceived it while he slept, telling him the truth wasn't the best option. Anduin was very worried, he didn't understand anything and was intrigued by Wrathion's attitude, the dragon was so nervous that he was able to transmit it to him. Although he knew it could be a big problem, Anduin considered it was best to calm him down. So instead of asking him questions, he asked for help to dismantle camp. Tess and Dereck erased any evidence that revealed someone was there. They argued about where they should go now and mentioned a lot observing the southern Nazmir area. Anduin put the tent, still wet from the rain, into a backpack while Wrathion put on the belt with the dagger. The young king felt the need to say something and break the tension, even if it was something silly, but he couldn't think of anything until he stared at the tattoo Wrathion had on his right shoulder. He couldn't help wondering since when he had it.

"Hey," Anduin called. "since when you have that tattoo? I'm pretty sure I didn't see it while we stayed on Pandaria."

"It was later, a year or so ago."

"Means something?"

"No." Anduin frowned in confusion and smiled a little, he wanted to mock him.

"Then why do you have it?" Wrathion shrugged. "So you did it for no reason. Wow, I was expecting an entertaining story. I thought you weren't one of those."

"Those?" asked the dragon almost laughing.

"Yes, those who get tattoos just to draw attention, if not, why is it so important to have it?"

"It's not important." Wrathion smiled for some reason.

"I tell you this with my best intention. Also..." Anduin left the backpack in front of the dragon and smiled at him. "Tattoos don't really fit you." they both stared at each other. "Are you one of those crazy dragons?"

"Yes." he replied, lowering his head and smiling. "Precisely that."

"Guys," Tess approached once everything was removed. "if you have finished copulating verbally, we must go."

"Okay." Anduin said as he got up and hung one of the small backpacks to his shoulder. "Hey, Tess, ask Wrathion about his tattoo." he suggested laughing.

"You woke up feeling like making jokes, don't you?" Wrathion replied.

"Now you guys have an inside joke?" Tess asked.

The four chose the path to the south. Now that they knew about the existence of an entrance located in some place called Underrot and the south was the only place they didn't look at, it was a great option. Also, if they went to the southern part of the Heart of Darkness, maybe they could see what was in the moat by being closer. Before the long journey began, Wrathion considered telling them that N’Zoth knew they were there. After all, they trusted him.

"People." Wrathion called, stopping. The others looked at him. "There's something you should know." Wrathion sighed. "N’Zoth knows we're here." Tess frowned.

"How?" she asked.

"I could feel his presence last night, I also smelled Zul, he must know if I can feel him so close." Tess and Dereck looked at each other confused and didn't seem very satisfied with the reasons.

"Well." Dereck started. "We'll be more careful then." the group started walking again. "But how do you know he's there? I mean, do you just notice it?"

"It's a kind of... smell accompanied by a sensation, I don’t know how to describe it."

"Never in my life I thought I would ask this but," said Tess. "how does an old god smell, exactly?

"Smells like corruption."

"I don't know what answer I expected..."

Dereck laughed lightly and they followed the path. Anduin was quite silent. He knew Wrathion had lied again and that was making him angry, but he understood that Wrathion did it to not worry them too much. Wrathion told him when he woke up that he gave himself away for some reason and preferred not saying that detail to the others. Anduin wasn't amused, especially since he had the feeling that Wrathion was hiding something very important.

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The road was too long and tedious, it took them all morning to reach the southern part of Nazmir. At first they ended almost at Vol’dun’s border until they changed their course and were able to find the border with Zuldazar. As the southern part was the most deforested in Nazmir, they decided to stay hidden in the undergrowth, they couldn't make the mistake of being exposed. They saw a lot of blood trolls on the way, they were all numerous patrols, so maybe they were alerted. The four had to dodge too many and it was the main reason they were walking all morning. As they approached the Heart of Darkness area, they saw too much movement. Many trolls and other creatures were moving towards the Blood gate that connected to Zuldazar and there were too many settlements around.

Wrathion climbed up a tree to better see where they could observe the place well. Although they were surrounded, if they watched their steps well, there was a small empty area very close to the edge of the Heart of Darkness. With that in mind and advancing crouched, they went to the designated post. They couldn't see the land too well because it was crowded, but now they saw the moat much better. Many trolls who looked like slaves came down chained there, led by women, but they couldn't see beyond.

Dereck dared to peek a little further, making himself almost invisible and watched more closely for a few minutes until he returned quite satisfied.

"Okay, I think there's a cave down there. Those slaves never come back and it seems that only the priestesses enter and leave. But less and less are entering now, I don't know if it's a coincidence."

"Maybe it's a mass grave..." Tess commented, jokingly.

"Well, it's deep then." Dereck replied jokingly too. "Now seriously, I think that famous Underrot could be there, we only have one inconvenience."

"Which is?" Anduin asked.

"How do we get down there without being seen?" there was a big silence. With so many enemies, it was impossible to get close as usual. Only Tess and Dereck knew invisibility techniques, and despite that, they could be easily sighted by beings who could perceive them. "I have an idea, Wrathion can go down there with his dragon form and destroy everything."

"Yes," Wrathion replied with a sarcastic tone. "and while I'm at it I make fire letters on the ground that says 'I'm here N’Zoth, catch me.'"

"Well, I thought... Yes, don't draw attention." everyone was silent again.

"I think I have the solution." Wrathion said after thinking about it. "Time to use magic."

"Magic?"

"I'll disguise the four of us into blood trolls."

"What?" Anduin looked at Wrathion in surprise. "Can you do that?"

"Of course I can, I'm a black dragon, we're specialists in this. I only need one thing, so, stay hidden here and if someone sees you, run away."

Wrathion walked away without saying much more and the three kept their position somewhat confused. They stared at the place expecting to see something different. Mythrax was gone, with the size it was, it just disappeared and that surprised everyone. There was no trace of Zul again either.

_Qam’wa gaz qi, close Uldir._

Anduin heard something again. The voice started in Shath’Yar and then switched to Common. Tess and Dereck didn't hear it again because they didn't say anything, but Anduin was pretty sure it was a real voice this time. Anduin saw from afar a new creature around the place, it looked like a giant beetle from his point of view and only saw it one second. Anduin wondered if it was that creature he heard now and the time before, but it made him more intrigued why he was the only hearing it.

Wrathion returned after several minutes with his hands stained with blood and three chains. If they were confused before, now they were much more.

"How exactly are you going to do this?" Tess wanted to know.

"Who wants to try first?" Wrathion asked smiling, but only managed an awkward silence until Anduin stepped forward.

"Okay, me first."

"Very well. Take the dagger, make a small cut on your finger and mix your blood with the blood on this side of my hand." Wrathion showed him the blood on the palm of his right hand and Anduin frowned.

"But how is this supposed to-"

"Just do it."

Anduin wasn't quite sure, but he trusted that Wrathion knew what he was doing. With the same dagger Wrathion gave him, he made a quick cut on the pad of his index finger. Enough blood gushed out of the thin line and Anduin mixed it with the other blood. Once he did that, Wrathion raised his hand and placed it in front of Anduin's face and concentrated. The young king thought he was mutating when he began to feel intense dizziness and closed his eyes when he felt pressure in his ears. He felt something was moving over his skin at first and he had a feeling that he became very light, but it stopped as soon as Wrathion lowered his hand. Anduin blinked in confusion and looked at himself, but he was exactly the same. Wrathion was satisfied and when he turned to see Tess and Dereck, they were both open-mouthed.

"You're a blood troll!" Dereck exclaimed, impressed.

"What?" Anduin looked at himself from head to toe. "But I'm the same as before."

"You see yourself normal." Wrathion clarified. "But they, me, and anyone who sees you, will believe you're a blood troll. If you want a quick explanation, mixing your blood with the troll's, I was able to make a costume. It's as if I had put a layer on you, inside the layer you obviously look normal, but those who see from outside, see this deception in the form of a blood troll."

"Wow... I thought you had mutated me into one of them." Wrathion laughed lightly.

"It's only deception magic. Simple, yet very effective. Next."

First he did it on Dereck, he reacted the same way as Anduin, feeling strange dizziness. It was curious for the young king to see how suddenly, what seemed to be a waterfall, fell on Dereck's head and, as water descended, Wrathion created the illusion until the spy looked like a blood troll. With Tess it was the same, but she was disguised in one of the priestesses and finally Wrathion himself disguised himself as a troll. To end it all, Wrathion asked Dereck and Anduin to put on the chain collars. Like the trolls they saw go down, it would be Tess who would take them like slaves to the Underrot because there was no other way within their culture to do so. They made no complaints and Tess finished with the three heavy chains in hand. She chuckled softly.

"Very well, slaves." she began. "Ready to be tortured?" Tess tried to fake an evil laugh.

"Jokes aside, we must clarify something." Wrathion cut. "We have to be very careful. The bad thing about this disguise magic is that anyone with some magic power can tell it's a hoax. When you use invisibility techniques, they can detect you if you get too close, right?"

"That's right." Dereck confirmed.

"This is similar, if someone who can detect us gets too close, they discover us. I can know who can be like this, so I'll pull the chain as soon as I see it. Tess, I need you to look at me if I do it, with my eyes I'll point you in which direction is this person, just move somewhere else, okay?"

"Okay." said Tess.

"And the most complicated part, if someone speaks to us, you'll have to answer." he pointed to Tess. "We're men, we're slaves, so, you'll have to pretend the way they speak."

"I think I can imitate their accent, I think..."

"Well, since Anduin is the priest, you can already start praying that it will turn out well."

They set off at once looking for the path that led directly to the Heart of Darkness. It wasn't too difficult to see it from afar, many blood trolls went up and down the place on the same path constantly. As soon as they got closer, they were surrounded by trolls and other creatures. Anduin felt his nervousness spread across his chest, if anyone realized they were intruders, they would be killed instantly.  
Wrathion pulled the chain suddenly and Tess peeked back, Wrathion turned his gaze to the right so Tess moved to the opposite side. As they got deeper into the place, many more times Wrathion pulled the chain to change course. Apparently there were many beings who could detect them easily. Some leeching beasts came to smell them, Anduin noticed that he sweated every time one approached, but they went unnoticed.  
Despite the fact that at first they had to hang around the place a lot, they ended up finding a wooden ramp that led to the main moat. They tried to go as calmly as possible, but at some point it was clear they were hurrying and caught the attention of some. At least no troll made any move to catch them. The wooden ramp creaked loudly when they went down it, and worst of all, without seeing exactly what was below, they could smell something rotting somewhere.

Once they reached the bottom, they could see a fairly large entrance to the land that, by discard, must be the Underrot, and in the center of the place, a small puddle of water. But Wrathion became nervous when a somewhat older blood Priestess troll came out from the entrance. From the way she looked, maybe had much more rank and authority than ordinary priestesses. Wrathion tried to sneakily pull the chain and Tess understood without looking at him, but the priestess came closer, no matter how far Tess tried to put them.

"What are you doing here?" asked the priestess. They all tensed, if Tess doesn't say anything then...

"I take those to the Underrot." Tess did the best troll imitation she could do although she didn't nail it. That woman stared in silence.

"Weren't you informed that no one can access the Underrot for now until the enemy is located?"

"But G’huun has told me to take those fools."

"G’huun does not ask for these things when he says to close, intruder. I don't know why you try, I'm going to-"

Before she finished the sentence or someone said anything, Wrathion moved quickly to stab a dagger into her throat and throw her on the ground. The priestess gasped and squirmed for several seconds, but Wrathion remained in place without removing the dagger while covering her mouth with one hand, asking for silence. She tried to scratch his face until she lost all strength and lay dead. Wrathion's magic slowly began to disappear, causing everyone to lose the disguise because the dragon lost focus.

"Damn..." Dereck said. "It almost got out of hand." Wrathion got up and took the dagger from the priestess neck and wiped the blade with her clothes.

"Almost, this troll is of higher rank, she saw the deception miles away." Wrathion looked at the others. "But at least we have the confirmation that there shouldn’t be people inside, that will allow us to move freely."

"That's great." said Tess, relieved. "I hate to make such a ridiculous farce."

"But you imitate the trolls accent very well!" Anduin said smiling.

"If any of you tell someone about this, I swear I'll rip your guts out and hang you with them, is that clear?"

"Okay..." Anduin and Dereck said simultaneously with some fear.

"If you finished threatening us, let's go inside."

Wrathion said so as he pushed the priestess' lifeless body into the small puddle as if it was garbage. There was a small descent at the entrance through which they had to slide and, when they reached the bottom, they found the immensity of the place. Tiny red blood cells were the only thing moving slowly across the floor. There wasn’t much vegetation, only white grass due to the spores of the place and the mold. If before entering the rotten smell was too much, there it was almost unbearable, the air seemed polluted by having a thousand decomposing corpses somewhere.

_Blood... Infected…_

"By the Light..." said Tess disgusted. "Where does that smell come from?"

"I think I'm getting dizzy..." Dereck added trying to hold on.

"Did you hear that?" Anduin asked, looking at the place after hearing a different voice from the previous one.

"The what?" Tess asked, puzzled.

"The voice, haven't you heard a voice?" they both shook their heads in surprise and Wrathion frowned.

"Are you imagining it or have you really heard a voice?" Anduin hesitated.

"I'm not sure."

"Anduin," Wrathion said. "imagination or not, hearing voices isn't a good thing." Anduin looked away. It was true, it wasn't good that he was hearing voices in his head just like that. "It may be nothing, whatever it is, we better continue if we're so close. If any of you sees something similar to an entry, say so."

Tess and Dereck walked with one hand covering their mouth and nose while Anduin and Wrathion seemed to be perfectly fine. They could see on the ground several small holes with blood to which magic was applied and several trolls hanging upside down with their throats slit so that blood would come out, some of them still dripping. That image got worse the more they delved between stacked corpses of trolls and other creatures from whom they took blood, however, when passing a small wooden bridge, they didn't see any other body.

The silence and the fact that they saw no one put them on alert and unsheathed their weapons. Although they were looking everywhere, it didn't seem like something was going to jump on them. The farther they went, unable to locate something like a door to enter Uldir, the heavier the air was. The smell was more fetid than before and began to affect Wrathion and Anduin as well despite their indifference.

After passing through what appeared to be a shrine, they descended stairs leading to what appeared to be the largest area of the Underrot. In the middle was something like a swimming pool where a kind of golden statue was half kneeling. Wrathion, when he saw it, was impressed.

"That's... Wait a minute." Wrathion ran to the water to inspect the statue, the others stood on the edge without entering looking curious.

"What is it, Wrathion?" Anduin asked. The dragon looked at the statue from all angles.

"This is... a Keeper!" Wrathion put a hand on it. "It must be a guardian of Uldir."

"But looks to be dead." said Tess, covering her mouth with one hand.

"No... it's resting, I think."

Wrathion surrounded it as he considered what he could do. It wasn't dead, Keepers like this were always deactivated for some reason, he just had to activate it again. Wrathion jumped onto the Keeper's shoulders and looked closely. Placing a hand on its head, he began to murmur a few words. The Keeper reacted to Wrathion's words, its eyes flashed amber, and it stood up. Wrathion almost fell but clutched at the head and sat on the broad shoulder. The Keeper evaluated the place first and then looked at the dragon.

"What's your name?" Wrathion asked.

"Designation: Titan Keeper Herzel." replied in a somewhat robotic voice.

"Are you a guardian of Uldir?"

"Affirmative."

"When did you turn off?" Herzel took a few seconds of silence.

"Sixteen thousand two hundred years ago."

"Damn…" Wrathion ran a hand over his chin. "Why did you deactivate yourself?"

"Security protocol, large breach detected, G’huun containment failure, MOTHER order."

"Who is MOTHER?"

"Matron of Tenacity, Herald of Endless Research. Designation: MOTHER, guardian and Uldir's main assistant." Herzel's eyes flashed. "Alert, MOTHER does not respond." Wrathion tried to think.

"Where's the door to Uldir?"

Herzel started to move, the footsteps shook the ground completely. Wrathion sat on the shoulders and the others followed close behind, almost running. Herzel guided them to the back of the large pool. The smell was also much stronger than before.

"Herzel, do you know why the Titans didn't kill G’huun?" Anduin asked as he ran, but Herzel didn't seem like it was going to answer him.

"Answer whatever they ask you, Herzel." Wrathion ordered.

"Unknown cause."

Anduin was surprised that Herzel only answered because Wrathion ordered it, but he was even more surprised that it didn't know the answer. The Keeper stopped as soon as it reached a blocked area. Where there should be a hole, it was covered by several strange skins cutting the way.

"Road blocked by virulent specimen." said Herzel.

"Wait." Wrathion dropped to the ground. "Is the door down there?"

"Affirmative."

"Use your power to break these skins."

Herzel raised a hand and balls of amber light began to come out and collided with the skins, causing them to break as easily as a cobweb. The way was soon open and the smell of pestilence made them take a few steps back. Tess fell to her knees.

"For fuck sake... this has already reached an unbearable level." Tess had part of the nose and mouth covered with both hands, Dereck didn't take long to do the same.

"We're near the entrance now." Anduin said.

"I don't know if I want to know what's down there if it smells like this." Tess looked at Wrathion and Anduin. "Look... I don't want to go down there, I'm about to pass out at any moment."

"But... we're here." Anduin pointed to the hole.

"You can't smell it or what?" Dereck sat on the floor.

"I can't take it anymore..." he said weakly. "I don't want to go down either." Anduin and Wrathion looked at each other, the young king shrugged.

"You don't have to come down if you feel bad." Wrathion said. Then he looked at Anduin. "And you?"

"I have come too far, I'm very curious."

"We'll get out of here." Tess said getting up and grabbing Dereck by the arm. "We can't spend more time enduring this, we'll use invisibility techniques."

"Are you sure?" Anduin asked with growing concern. "You don't have the Wrathion costume."

"We know how they move and we know who can see us: the big ones and priestesses. No problem, and we have plenty of experience in hiding, we can get out." Anduin hesitated.

"I don't feel very sure about it... Where will you go?"

"To the camp with the dwarves." Anduin scratched the back of his neck. "We'll be fine, I promise you." the young king sighed nodding.

"Good luck." said Wrathion.

Tess and Dereck started to run out of there. Anduin also felt dizzy but was so curious to see Uldir that he couldn't go back. They both looked out into the hole and noticed that there was no spores, it had the architecture of the Titans installations. It was a long ramp and a fall to somewhere.

"Do we slide down?" Anduin suggested. Wrathion sighed and looked at Herzel.

"Herzel, can you teleport us both down?"

Herzel moved one arm and turned them both into balls of light. Anduin felt very light when he started to move. He saw everything in flickering images as he descended into the absolute darkness of the place and landed as if nothing had happened, as if a wizard had cast a teleportation spell.

"We have to repeat that." Anduin said smiling.

Anduin couldn't see how big that room was in the dark, and Wrathion stared at the only light in something that looked like some kind of command console attached to the wall. Anduin ran to that device to see it better followed by Wrathion. Herzel went down with them but stayed in the same position without saying anything.

"What is it?" asked Anduin inspecting. Wrathion concluded quickly.

"A console. Look at the inscriptions, this is... it's the base of the Nazmir seal, it's all titanic."

"What does it say?"

"Give me a minute."

Wrathion looked closer. Between the fact that the letters were very worn and that it was the most complex language in existence, it was too difficult to read it well and it took time. Anduin stared at the weak light, it was the same as the one he saw on the structure outside.

_Devour_

Anduin turned around. This time the voice came very close, as if it had been whispered near his ear. The darkness made it impossible for him to see something, but he felt a certain movement in the shadows. This time he was very sure, there was something there and he could hear it. Anduin reached out to tap the dragon's shoulder.

"This seal is impossible to repair..." Wrathion murmured. "I would need magic from the titans for that."

"Wrathion...?"

"What?" the dragon, seeing Anduin's alarmed face, frowned and looked into the darkness. Immediately he could see what was really there. "Shit."

Wrathion grabbed Anduin and ran away when something pounced on them. Anduin saw a huge figure that was unlike anything he had ever seen before and smelled like a thousand decomposing dead bodies, all the smell of the Underrot was that thing. It tried to attack again, but the dragon took Anduin away again. Wrathion was surprised, he didn't detect at any moment that there was something there and couldn't perceive any kind of power. He also heard nothing when he fell, it was too strange.

_Devour! Consume! Spread!_

"Herzel, light up the room!" Wrathion ordered.

Herzel tapped a fist on the floor and the whole room lit up in an amber colour, then Anduin saw it. It was a misshapen monster, made of blood, with one fat leg and the other completely twisted and thin. It had two small arms on the right side and a single arm on the left. It had no head, in the thorax it had a giant mouth from which blood came out.

"What on Azeroth is that?" asked Anduin, disturbed.

"G’huun infection." replied Herzel. "Containment priority: one."

"And what do we do now?"

"If it bleeds," Wrathion said. "we can kill it. Hit it!"

Wrathion grabbed his polearm and leaped at the monster to cut in the bottom of its large mouth and several pieces of blood shot out, but it didn't seem to mind. Anduin also unsheathed and hit the fat leg. Wrathion cut off both bony arms without difficulty and the young king realized something, those arms were from trolls. As soon as several pieces of blood covered the ground, they began to move.

It wasn't pleasant to see the blood and tissue mixing until they took the form of a little sha who approached Wrathion to attack. The dragon, with a blow, sent it away. Herzel moved towards the little creature and shot something at it. The creature squirmed until it disappeared, leaving only a half troll head.

"Contagion detected and sanitized." said Herzel as if nothing had happened.

"Herzel…" Anduin began doubtfully. "What is this infection of G’huun made of?"

"Sacrifices were thrown into the hole to form the infection."

"You mean this thing is made of devoured trolls?"

"Affirmative."

Anduin wanted to vomit for a second when he looked back at the abomination. That's why trolls didn't return from the Underrot, that's why they found corpses and corpses piled up, they were going to throw them here so that the infection became bigger. He couldn't understand how their culture could push them into that for power.

"Anduin," called Wrathion. "we have to make more cuts. If Herzel sanitizes them, there will come to a point when it can do the same to the big one."

Wrathion took a breath and puffed out his cheeks, but when he blew,a flame came out and covered the entire abomination. The screech the abomination did was so loud that Anduin had to cover his ears. Many blood fell with the fire and other small infections began to grow. While Wrathion kept hitting the big one, Anduin helped Herzel eliminate the little ones. With the power of the Light he was able to purge them after several blows.

The abomination had cuts all over its 'body' and stopped walking when Wrathion cut off his legs, it began to move erratically as if resisting death. Herzel approached it and made a ball of amber light which covered the rest of the body. The abomination twisted screaming in agony just like the blood that were still around the place.

"Engaging final safeguard," said Herzel calmly. "destroying virulent source."

Suddenly, after a small shock wave, the abomination disappeared, leaving a small mountain of sand where it was. The bloods stopped moving. Herzel fell right next to it as well, as if it had exhausted all its remaining energy. Wrathion approached the Keeper and inspected.

"Is death?" Anduin asked, sad. Wrathion saw that it still had a very dim light in the eyes.

"Almost. Destroying that thing ran out its energy." Anduin looked at one of the bloods and had a crazy idea, it was the perfect proof. He grabbed the small backpack he was carrying and carefully put the blood inside. "But what are you doing?"

"I'll show it to everyone, they won't ignore such a proof." the dragon raised his eyebrows, it wasn't a bad idea.

Wrathion approached the console he was looking at again before everything happened and Anduin walked patiently to the side once he hung up his backpack. After a long time, the young king leaned against the wall until Wrathion was done. As soon as they looked at each other, the dragon laughed a little.

"You’re leaning on Uldir's door." Anduin instinctively moved away.

"It's here?"

"Yes, do you want me to open and we take a look?"

Anduin nodded quickly, he wanted to see it with his own eyes. Wrathion tapped the console and gears moved above it until the door opened in half. Anduin stared, there was a dim blue light in the small room in front of them. They entered the room cautiously, they didn't know what to expect. It was completely empty and on the other side they found another door that led to a corridor that seemed to have no end. While crossing it, they walked faster until they reached a large doorless arch. Peeking out, they saw Uldir and an enormous army of blood trolls and other creatures as well. Anduin was puzzled as soon as he saw the number of trolls there and took a good look at the place. The structure was round and in the middle of everything there was an altar.

"Intruder!" shouted a troll calling everyone's attention, causing everyone to start running towards them.

"Run!"

Wrathion grabbed Anduin's arm at first and they started running as fast as they could. The trolls were fast, and the leeches with legs even more, Anduin had to exceed his limits because they were too close. Wrathion sped up a lot more to get there earlier and start closing the door. He skidded a little as he reached the console and tapped the buttons again to close it as Anduin arrived.

"Close it! CLOSE IT!" Anduin shouted gesturing and Wrathion began to close slowly. As Anduin walked through the door, Wrathion slammed it shut. The young king slumped to the ground. "Don't open that door again."

Anduin was panting as he put a hand to his right knee, he felt some pain from the effort. When Wrathion approached to help him, trolls started pounding on the door. Anduin got up scared. The knocking was very intense and he began to think that they would break the door at any moment.

"What do we do?" Anduin asked, looking at the dragon.

"I can climb up to where we were but…"

Wrathion looked at him worried, there was no way he was going to leave Anduin there. After a few seconds thinking about something, he moved towards Herzel. He lifted the head and shook it.

"Herzel, I know you still have energy, you have to take us up back."

"N-n-negat-tive..." the voice was totally choppy. Wrathion grabbed the head, angry.

"Do the guardian's will, it's your duty."

There was a silence between the two, Herzel moved a hand and transformed them both into the same ball of light to go up. When they reached the top, instead of appearing normal as before, they fell on their asses. Wrathion offered Anduin a hand to get up, but in doing so, Anduin just looked at him puzzled.

"How did you do that?" Anduin asked. At Wrathion's confused gaze, he continued. "Herzel only paid attention to you, how do you do it?" Wrathion sighed.

"Magic, Anduin." he answered as if it was obvious.

The young king only frowned. He didn't notice at any time that Wrathion used magic, but above all, he had perfectly heard Wrathion refer to himself as guardian and Herzel obeyed him after refusing. There wasn't much time to speak, Wrathion grabbed the young king by the arm again, they had to run away from there.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

They managed to get out of the Heart of Darkness alive, Anduin couldn't believe it. Wrathion used the disguise spell again, but with the fatigue of the day it sometimes weakened. The big surprise was when they went up the wooden ramp, a large part of the trolls left and therefore the area was almost empty.

Anduin didn't know whether to be happy or to worry a lot. If they weren't there it meant that they were alerted by their presence and were looking for them. They had to get to the camp and get off Nazmir at once.

After leaving the Heart of Darkness area, they removed their disguise and continued on their way east. They had to hide several times because of patrols or sometimes Wrathion sneakily killed trolls who were alone. They dodged a small camp in the south when Wrathion stopped dead. The dragon stared around as he smelled something. Anduin worried.

"What's wrong?" Wrathion was thoughtful for a while before looking at Anduin.

"Dereck... I'm smelling Dereck's blood in the air." Anduin went pale.

"Where?"

Wrathion stealthily led him to the back of that camp as Anduin began to imagine the horrible things he might encounter. Dereck was spotted lying in a bush and the young king believed he was having a heart attack as soon as he reached him. Anduin looked him up and down looking for wounds, Dereck only had one on his head and on his left shoulder, but most importantly, he was alive.

"Dereck." Anduin called using the Light to heal the head wound. "Dereck, can you hear me? Dereck?" as soon as Anduin was able to close the wound, Dereck woke up slowly and was surprised to see Anduin.

"Anduin?" Dereck said weakly, opening his eyes surprised and giving him a hug. "Anduin!"

"What happened to you?" Dereck put a hand to his head.

"We left the Heart of Darkness safe... but..." Dereck opened his eyes completely. "Zul, we saw Zul."

"Where?"

"Near here, he was riding a huge creature. He was the one who discovered us miles away."

"And where's Tess?" Dereck changed his expression to a more scared one.

"They left me here because I’m not useful, they were in a hurry for something, but they took Tess."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know!" Dereck was clearly scared. "She must be in a camp!"

"I can guess why." Wrathion said. "We have to get her out of there now."

"What will they do to her?" Anduin asked while helping Dereck. Wrathion looked at him seriously.

"Women are very important in a blood society for a simple reason." Anduin’s face turned white when he understood what he was saying.

"Shit… Fuck…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underrot was the first dungeon I did as a Horde, maybe that's the real reason I included it, a friend told me back in the day that "Anduin should have looted the mount" lmao.  
I hope you liked it and see you next time :)


	22. Nazmir's mist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you're doing fine. I bring another chapter to entretain a bit, have fun :)  
sorry for grammar mistakes

They saw several camps before they found the one they were looking for. Dereck couldn't move well and Anduin was all the time helping him to stand, but he was able to resist until they reached the correct camp. Wrathion had to guide them through the south-east camps once they crossed the path leading to the blood gate. Only he was used to everyone's smell to detect Tess, although that worried Anduin, if he was smelling her it meant she was bleeding too. They arrived at a fairly small and somewhat isolated camp with only two tents and an altar for sacrifices in the middle. They located Tess, she was tied to a pole and wasn't moving at all. Wrathion counted the trolls there, they weren't too many and they looked like regular guards, at least a dozen and a couple of priestesses.

"Dereck." Wrathion whispered. "Can you fight?"

"I don't think so..." he answered weakly. "Also, they took away our weapons, I won't be able to fight."

"Okay, in that case, can you sneak up to Tess and free her?"

"I think so."

"Perfect then. Anduin, you and I are going to distract them, let's try to take them a little far from where Tess is."

Anduin nodded and they began to move. Dereck went to surround the camp and position himself almost behind Tess, they have to wait until Wrathion attacks first. A priestess was dragging a very young blood troll with superficial wounds to tie him to a pole right next to Tess. The priestess cut near his elbow and dropped all the blood into a wooden cup. The troll turned pale, but he didn't seem to mind losing blood. Then she bent down to look closely at Tess by lifting her chin, she was unconscious and had a small trickle of blood running down her head. The priestess looked at the other.

"How much blood do you say you took?" she asked curious, the other priestess looked at her.

"Until she lost consciousness, but will survive."

"Okay, we need her."

The priestess got up to walk away, but as she took a step, Wrathion dropped from a tree in front of her and, with the dagger, cut her jugular easily. All the trolls were put on guard as soon as the priestess fell to the ground. Anduin stepped out to attack the farthest troll by surprise and easily knoked him to the ground, he sank his sword on his back.

"Sorry." the young king apologized.

Anduin tried to reach Wrathion, but a couple of trolls confronted him. The young king summoned the Light to use a Penance on one of them, who was left on the ground hurted, and confronted the other. The troll carried a spear and didn't let him get close, but Anduin remembered what Wrathion always did when they trained. They trained always with long sticks and the dragon beat him at the beginning in a very easy way. When the troll made a lunge that Anduin easily dodged, the young king grabbed the spear by the wood and pulled him, the troll didn't see it coming and Anduin punched him in the nose. The troll tried to recompose himself, and with a sword movement, Anduin made a deadly cut on his chest and headed to the next one.

Dereck reached up to Tess and started untying her. He noticed that the bonds were tight enough and she had very marked bruises all over her wrist area. Dereck raised Tess' head to look at him.

"Tess?"

She didn't answer and Dereck didn't know what to do. Wrathion was nearby fighting anyone who got a little closer, he was strong enough to keep them at bay, but they began to surround him. Anduin approached him after killing another troll and they fought side by side. They needed Dereck to take Tess away. Anduin quickly eliminated with the Light a troll when he saw one escaping and another approaching Dereck's position. Anduin didn't hesitate, he went to defend them by standing in the troll's way. The troll unsheathed two daggers and attacked first so fast that the young king almost got a fatal wound. Anduin parried an attack from the left and leaned back to dodge the other. When Anduin tried to attack, he only hit the troll's right leg. Anduin made a miscalculation when trying to dodge an attack, the troll cut him on the left cheek and then kicked his right leg, so Anduin fell to the ground. Just by the hit in the knee, he dropped his sword because of the pain. The troll raised the dagger, ready to kill him, but Dereck threw a stone at his head and the troll was pulled away.

"Those daggers are mine, asshole." Dereck said.

The troll frowned and walked towards him somewhat disoriented by the blow. Dereck couldn't defend himself with his hands, but he wanted to save Anduin. The troll tried to attack him, but Dereck dodged the first two attacks well, however, the troll kicked him in the belly and Dereck fell to the ground. Anduin tried to stand up, but his knee failed him. Seeing the troll threateningly approach his friend made him very nervous, if he couldn't move, maybe he should try to summon the Light to create a shield. Anduin raised his hand to Dereck desperately when the troll was right in front of him. He must save him, he must...

_Kill him._

The Light never came out, instead, only shadows emerged. Tentacles appeared from the ground and rooted the troll, knocking him to the ground. The troll squirmed when a tentacle encircled his neck and strangled him, but when he opened his mouth, another tentacle went inside and in less than five seconds killed him. Everything disappeared as soon as the troll lay dead and Anduin couldn't believe it. He didn't understand it, he didn't want to use the power of the Void at any time, it was that voice he heard in his head that did it, it forced him. Dereck looked at him somewhat confused and Anduin felt scared. How could he allow a voice to take over?

Wrathion had killed all but two. He was sweating from the effort and wanted to end it soon. The last priestess stayed behind while the only troll there protected her. Wrathion attacked first by disarming the troll and pierced his chest with his weapon. The priestess used blood magic against him once more, a magic used to physically weaken him, she had already been using it several times against Wrathion but it didn't seem to stop him, although Wrathion had to admit that he was tired. There was only one moment of distraction, one in which he spotted a troll escaping. The dragon was going to move the earth, he could create a small earthquake to throw him to the ground. He shouldn't have been distracted by something so silly and only regretted it when the priestess tried to stab him with the dagger. He tried to dodge it in the last second, but she ended up cutting him under his right ribs in a superficial way. Wrathion dropped his weapon when he felt the pain and put his hand on the wound. The priestess offered him a half smile, a smile that faded the moment Wrathion grabbed her by the neck. The dragon strangled her as she turned more blue until he heard her neck break. Wrathion sighed as he dropped her and picked up his weapon from the ground. He looked over his wound, it wasn't deep but she had left a long cut. Wrathion looked up trying to locate the troll who was escaping, but he couldn't see him anywhere and that bothered him.

Wrathion came closer to the others now that all the enemies were dead. Anduin was using the Light on Tess, healing superficial wounds and trying to make her conscious, although it was impossible to remove the paleness from her face. Tess opened her eyes very slowly and looked everywhere disoriented, but once she could fix her eyes on Anduin, she gave him a hug.

"Tess." Dereck said weakly. "What have they done to you?"

"Blood..." Tess replied even weaker. "They took a lot of blood, I don't know why."

"Did they do anything else to you?" asked Anduin worried.

"No, I don't think so..." Anduin looked at Wrathion.

"She's very weak, anemic, I don't think she can walk and we don't have food to give her." Tess looked at Wrathion and smiled.

"Remind me to thank you for this wonderful weekend..." she said wryly, the dragon smiled.

"Can you know if they did something else to her?" Dereck asked Anduin.

"Sure, but a revision will take time."

"We don't have it." Wrathion said. "We have to run."

A small movement on the side post caught their attention. Until now, no one hadn't noticed that a troll was tied up, looking at them confused. Wrathion frowned and as they helped Tess up, he bent down and stabbed his dagger into his head. Anduin looked at him annoyed.

"But what are you doing!?" Wrathion looked at him confused. "He couldn't do anything to us!"

"He can tell which way we went." he replied as if it was obvious. "Besides, he's better dead than alive." Anduin gave him an angry look, he didn't like what he was doing. When Wrathion got up, he put a hand on the wound as he felt the pain and blood come out. Anduin changed his expression to surprised.

"Have they hurt you?"

"I'm fine."

"Let me see you." Anduin came to look at his wound but Wrathion stopped him.

"There is no time to heal. A troll fled and I'm sure he gave the alarm, I can feel them coming."

"But you can't go with an open wound."

Wrathion didn't think twice. Flames covered his right hand and he brought it to the wound. The dragon made a pained face as he did so, but resisted, by doing this the bleeding was stopped. Anduin looked at him even more surprised, he didn't expect him to do something like that.

"Let's go!" Wrathion insisted. Anduin looked at the others. Tess couldn't walk so they had to carry her and Dereck was at his limits.

"Okay, I'll carry Tess." Anduin proposed. "Dereck, can you take this for me?"

Dereck nodded as he recovered his daggers, hung Anduin's backpack and took Shalamayne. Wrathion helped Anduin carry Tess on his back and they started running to the first camp, they just hoped that everything would continue in its place. Taking a few steps, it started to drizzle again. Wrathion was further ahead when two blood trolls got in the way, but they didn't last long against the dragon. However, one of them whistled in a special way before being defeated. Anduin, looking sideways, realized that he had drawn attention and saw several warrior blood trolls approach his position and started to run faster.

They just had to go in a straight line to the camp, but between the exhaustion, the blood trolls right behind them and the rain leaving the earth slippery, it was costing them horrors. Dereck was on the verge of collapse from so much running and he stumbled occasionally. Anduin wasn't much better either. Since the blow to his knee, he felt pain when moving, but now that he was running and carrying someone, his legs began to fail completely. Wrathion didn't stop eliminating trolls on the way, more and more appeared. Dereck pointed behind, a large group of blood trolls, most riding on legged leeches, were almost on top of them.

"We won't make it..." Wrathion gasped.

"Yes we can." replied Anduin. "We're almost there."

"We won't arrive in this state." Wrathion looked towards the trolls. "I'll take them away."

"This is not the time for you to make jokes." Anduin said, frowning.

"Even if we arrived, they would be right behind us, we wouldn't have time to leave, they'd catch us. That's why I'm going to mislead them, I'll take them to the Necropolis area."

"No." Anduin shook his head. "I won't let you, no."

"You arrive there, embark and go upriver to the sea, we will meet there." Anduin continued denying.

"I'm not going to leave you out there." Wrathion looked seriously at Anduin.

"_Ruth’hi_! Run away, dammit!"

Wrathion ran towards the trolls quickly, transforming into a dragon, and drawing their attention. They didn't think about it much when it came to chasing the dragon, that would permit Anduin and Dereck to arrive at the camp. As soon as they started running, Anduin didn't stop looking back. He would have preferred that Wrathion didn't leave, he had no guarantee that the dragon wouldn't be caught.

After a few minutes and with much effort, they reached the dwarves' camp. Anduin was very relieved to see that they didn't leave. Immediately upon arrival, Dereck fell to his knees on the ground from exhaustion. Brann approached them worried.

"By my beard! What happened?"

"It's a long story." Anduin ended up falling to his knees as well. He left Tess by his side.

"What happened to the princess of Gilneas?"

"They captured her, she's wounded." Anduin looked around, they were all armed and some had the blades of their swords stained with blood. "Have they attacked you?"

"Some trolls, but we reject them. We also saw the Horde from afar, but I think they were fleeing back to Zuldazar. There's much commotion now. There wasn't someone else with you guys?"

"Yes, I'm going to go get him." Tess grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Anduin, don't..." she said in a low voice.

"I have to go, I know where he's going. Do what he said, everyone go upriver to the sea. Once you're there, I'll surely have found him and come back."

"What if you don't show up? What if the trolls locate us and attack us?" Anduin hesitated.

"Then go to Kul Tiras without us." everyone started shaking their heads.

"Don't even joke about it." Anduin took his sword and backpack again.

"Do it!"

Before someone stopped him, Anduin entered Nazmir once more. Tess and Dereck looked at each other worried, but neither of them had enough energy to follow him. At Brann's order and at the insistence of the ship's captain, they dismantled the entire camp and left.

Anduin ran as much as he could afford. He was cutting away the vegetation with the sword. Along the way, he found several pieces of evidences that Wrathion passed by, whether they were fallen trees or dragon tracks, so he assumed he was on the right track. The air was still very heavy and it was difficult to breathe normally. He saw a group of blood trolls in the distance and had to hide for a few seconds. It was much safer not to be seen. He preferred to surround them and continue on his way to the Necropolis. Anduin started to feel worried when all traces of Wrathion disappeared. He was in the middle of a road when he was completely disoriented. After a while, the afternoon light reflecting on the raindrops was fading and soon it would be dark, he would end up lost if he didn't retreat, but he couldn't leave without Wrathion either. After a few minutes wandering around, he saw two large groups of trolls both in front and behind and decided to panic out of the way. He didn't know where he was walking, he was aware that he was near the Necropolis, but maybe he would end up in a troll camp if he kept going like this.

Leaning against a tree, suddenly someone caught him from behind, covering his mouth, Anduin tried to resist but couldn't break free.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Anduin looked back only to meet Wrathion's angry gaze. Although the dragon wasn't happy, the young king was tremendously relieved to know that it was him. Wrathion led him to some rocks where they could take shelter.

"I've been smelling you for a while with that cut you have on the cheek."

"I was looking for you." Anduin turned around.

"And I told you to run away."

"I couldn't leave you here, we go back together."

"I can take care of myself." Wrathion raised his voice a bit confused. "Why did you come?"

"Because you're my friend!"

Wrathion frowned even more confused. Sometimes he couldn't understand some things, he didn't understand why Anduin put himself in danger for him. He also didn't understand why he was going to consider him such a friend of his after all he did to him, sometimes he couldn't quite believe they were really friends. Wrathion sat down on the ground wearily and put a hand to his wound.

_He shouldn't be far away._

Anduin heard a voice again and looked at the path he left behind. Wrathion looked over there as well and the young king frowned. The dragon grabbed Anduin by the arm and they ducked under cover.

"Did you hear it?" Anduin asked, whispering.

"I haven't heard anything, but I can feel it." Wrathion leaned out. "Can you see that over there?"

Anduin looked in the direction Wrathion was pointing and saw a huge creature. It was the same one he saw for a moment in the Heart of Darkness many hours ago, a giant red beetle. He could see the face now, it has the shape of an octopus, very similar to the followers of N’Zoth when he freed Leo.

"It's a herald of N’Zoth." Wrathion explained. "Name's Zek’voz, Zul was using it as a mount before."

"Did you see Zul?"

"Yes, and he has used a spell that doesn't allow me to transform into a dragon."

"What?" Anduin looked concerned. "What do we do then?"

"If I can get out of his range I can transform back, but he's still close."

"When did Zul and Zek’voz separate?"

"A few minutes ago, they've been looking for me everywhere for a while." Anduin frowned slightly.

"Why does N’Zoth want to get you so insistently?" Wrathion looked at him indifferently. "I understand that you have been enemies for a long time and such, but I think everything he does to reach you is somewhat obsessive."

"That's the only reason, we're enemies."

Anduin wanted to say something, but they were interrupted when footsteps were heard nearby. The blood trolls were almost on top of them and Zek’voz was getting closer. Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the wrist to run away. They were both tired and didn't want to get into any numerically disadvantaged fight. They soon realized a big problem, they were being surrounded. No matter which way they looked, there was always an enemy, they would be discovered at any moment, they had the minutes counted.

Wrathion suddenly had an idea. They ran to a huge tree with its roots scattered and between them he made a small hole in the dirt. The dragon used his magic on the earth to make the hole wider and asked Anduin to get inside. The young king hesitated for a second, but got inside followed by Wrathion, who closed the hole slightly.

"We will stay in here hiding until the area is cleared." Wrathion clutched his weapon tightly. "If they discover us anyway, I'll go out and face them, you leave and I don't want any 'but'."

"The others are waiting for us upstream, but I told them that if we didn't return, they should leave. So I don't know where I would go if we spent a lot of time here."

"Well, if they're smart, they will be gone by now. We can't do more than wait for the right moment and pray that they won't find us."

Anduin nodded. Wrathion left a small gap for air to enter but it still felt quite claustrophobic. They didn't know how long they would be there and it didn't last long until they became impatient.

But they couldn't do anything about it either. Anduin rested his head on the dragon's shoulder and waited.

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Dereck kept looking port and starboard the entire time. They sailed upriver a minute after Anduin went looking for Wrathion. It wasn't a big ship, so they were all a little crowded on deck holding their guns looking everywhere waiting for enemies. Tess sat in the small staircase that led to the helm, she couldn't even stand.

They reached the shore after a short time, but didn't see Anduin. Brann decided to wait awhile even though most wanted to leave Nazmir as soon as possible. Several blood trolls discovered their position and attacked, but with firearms it was enough to defend themselves. The old captain of the ship began to insist much more on leaving when a group attacked them, he kept repeating that he didn't want to die there at the hands of savages, but Dereck insisted that they should wait. After several minutes Brann began to consider leaving.

"We cannot." Dereck staggered. "Anduin and Wrathion are still there."

"Kid," said the captain. "they must be dead by now."

"Don't call me that." he replied annoyed. "And they aren't dead, they're both very strong."

"Well, if they're so strong, nothing happens if they stay there."

"I won't abandon them!" the captain ran to Dereck and pushed him, Dereck fell easily because he hadn't energy.

"Look, if you want to commit suicide like them, go ahead, you stay here. But we won't risk our lives for a couple of dumbs, is that clear?" Dereck looked at him with special anger. Looking at Tess' worried face, he moved towards her.

"We can't..." he insisted. Tess swallowed.

"Nor can we do anything, you know well I don't like it, but we're half dead and we have little ammunition to defend ourselves. Dereck, sometimes we can't."

"Then I stay in Nazmir too." Dereck's legs trembled when he got up and he almost lost his balance. As he tried to leave, Tess grabbed his hand.

"You will die, stay here." Tess sounded very pleading.

"But Anduin... don't you appreciate him too?"

"Of course I do... but I love you more."

Dereck's mouth fell open, he didn't expect her to tell him. He was silent, not daring to say anything, and his legs failed. In the end he gave up, sat down in front of Tess, defeated, both physically and mentally. The captain gave the order to leave immediately once everything calmed down. Dereck and Tess were holding hands, sad that they had to leave Anduin and Wrathion behind, but there was no other option.

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Anduin didn't know how long they were there. It might have been more than an hour waiting, but he lost track of time entirely. They kept hearing footsteps all the time, some far away and others too close. He had to admit that he felt a certain fear of being discovered and sometimes thought that it was so. But in the end, they went unnoticed.

Wrathion minimized his magic as much as possible so that he wouldn't be detected in this way and he kept his guard high, looking straight ahead the whole time. The only thing he liked about all that was being stuck together in a small space. It was very quiet now, the rain stopped and no light entered. Wrathion turned his head slightly and collided with Anduin's forehead, he raised his head.

"I think there is no one around." said Wrathion, whispering.

"Are you sure?" Wrathion dug his fingers into the earth and was silent for several minutes until reaching a conclusion. He turned his head again.

"I can't detect anyone nearby. Let's go out."

Wrathion, with his magic, opened the hole to get out. It was late at night once they were out and the moonlight was bright enough. But there was a big problem, the mist was everywhere. Anduin felt very uneasy, he was unable to see anything, he could have an enemy army right in front of him and it would be impossible to notice it. What if there was something lurking? Anduin suddenly lost sight of Wrathion, it was only for a second when he looked back that he lost him and began to walk feeling fear.

"Wrathion?" there was no answer. "Wrathion!?" the dragon suddenly appeared covering his mouth.

"Don't make so much noise! We aren't alone." Anduin sighed.

"Sorry... I couldn't see you." Wrathion reflected for a few seconds.

"Okay, take the end of my scarf and don't get away from me."

Wrathion offered him one end and Anduin grabbed on. They walked very carefully. Wrathion could see well, so he dodged any danger or took a few moments to hide. Once they ran into a blood troll, but he couldn't see anything either and Wrathion killed him.

They arrived at the shore in a few minutes. The mist wasn't that much there and the sky was so much clear. Wrathion announced that he was finally noticing he came out of Zul's spell and felt free to turn into a dragon again if necessary. They quickly located the river through which they entered, but not the ship. Anduin was slightly worried when he saw trolls' bodies in the area.

"Have they been captured?" Anduin asked.

"No, if so, the ship would be here with several bodies. They have probably left."

"It was the best. What do we do now?" Wrathion stretched out his arms.

"We'll fly to Boralus."

Before Anduin said anything, Wrathion was already changing. It was a quick transformation, Wrathion spread his wings when finished. Anduin was pretty sure that Wrathion had grown since he saw him in the Valley and didn't know if that was normal. Wrathion asked him to come up and Anduin hesitated. The only time he rode a creature that could fly was a gryphon and wore a harness to keep from falling. He didn't feel very calm being without any security, but they had to get out of there. Wrathion had to bend down a bit so Anduin could jump on. The young king pulled himself as close to the dragon neck as he could when he heard Wrathion chuckle.

"You're literally sitting on the back of my neck. Go down a little, would you?." Wrathion moved his neck so the young king sat closer to the wings. "There, that's a good spot." Wrathion raised his wings to fly, but stopped at the last second. "Shit."

"Now what?"

"How do I explain this to someone who isn't a dragon?" Wrathion stayed in silence for a few seconds. "Dragons are very sensitive when a scale falls, some of them stay hanging and it's very annoying. If you sit like this, I have that feeling, and the truth is that I want to scratch you." Anduin frowned.

"Want me to lie on your body?"

"If you don't mind."

It seemed very strange to Anduin, but it was dragon stuff so he wasn't going to understand. He preferred not to say anything and do it, then Wrathion started to fly. At first, gravity treated Anduin somewhat badly, but he quickly got used to it. Gradually they were leaving Nazmir and the dense mist behind. Wrathion had lied, it didn't matter how Anduin sat, there was no problem, but he wanted Anduin at least once in his life to be hugging him in his draconic form. Anduin was surprised during the journey of how little Wrathion moved. With the gryphion, it kept moving all the time, but Wrathion seemed to be rocking in the air. The sky was clear now and the sea reflected the moon and stars like a mirror, it was probably one of the most beautiful views Anduin had ever seen and he snuggled closer to Wrathion as he used the Light on the cut of his cheek.

They arrived at Boralus after midnight. Wrathion landed in the square just behind the Proudmoore Keep. There was a guard who saw them and ran into the Keep. The dragon stood waiting for Anduin to get down, but he didn't seem to intend to move. Wrathion turned his head to get a better look at him.

"So, do you want to change the posture or do we stay like this all night long?" Anduin quickly raised his head.

"Sorry, I hadn't noticed." Anduin got down. "It's the first time I’ve ridden a dragon."

"Oh." Wrathion returned to his human form. "I'm glad to be the first as much as I'm glad I fulfilled a certain proposition." Anduin frowned.

"What proposition?"

"That someday I would take you flying on my back."

Anduin was surprised that he forgot something like that and remembered the moment. Back then, he wanted to forget everything related to Garrosh's trial because he inevitably thought of Wrathion and his betrayal. He didn't remember much of the things they talked about, but now that he mentioned it, he remembered that deep down he always liked the idea and gave a half smile.

There wasn't movement in the Keep, everyone was probably asleep. However, as they crossed a hallway, Genn saw them. Anduin didn't know if he should be happy or run away as soon as Genn ran towards him with a face that screamed 'I'm going to kill you'. As soon as Genn was in front, he hesitated between giving him a hug or punching him, but ended up giving a hug.

"Never," Genn began. "but never do this to me again. NEVER."

"Sorry." Anduin said, returning the hug. "I didn't want to worry you, I'm sorry."

"You can't imagine how many heart attacks I had only today... How did you get here?"

"Wrathion has brought me flying," Genn looked at the dragon.

"Thanks for bringing him." said the wolf.

"I also came back and I'm fine, by the way." Wrathion said. "Thanks for your concern." Wrathion started walking towards the emergency room, still in pain from the cut.

"Tess and Dereck arrived?" Anduin asked.

"Yes, a few hours ago, they had to attend to them right away, they're fine. But they gave me a heart attack when they told me you stayed there. What were you thinking of?"

"It's just that I had to. They are well, really?"

"You can ask them." Anduin smiled, he definitely wanted to see them.

Wrathion reached the room first. No one was there and that pleased him, he could take things without being disturbed. He approached one of the tables with several disinfecting pots. As he looked at them, he unbuckled his belt, removed his scarf, and took off his fine black jacket to get a better look at the wound. Aside from the burn that was made, by the way he tried to dodge that attack, the cut reached his back, he couldn't easily sew it. He grabbed one of the disinfectant bottles to apply it a bit on the wound. As soon as the liquid touched the cut, Wrathion writhed. Saying it was stinging wasn't enough.

Anduin entered the room a minute later in silence. Genn passed by to guide him but Anduin stopped when he saw Wrathion. Since the dragon was shirtless, he could easily see the scars on his back. They were quite showy and concentrated on the sides of the dorsal area. Anduin was very surprised, those scars were made very conscientiously, as if someone had wanted to cut something or simply tortured him. He realized that he was trying to heal the wound he received, but was using something he shouldn't, so he decided to approach.

"You're doing it wrong." Wrathion jumped in a scare and turned around.

"Shit, you scared me." Anduin sighed.

"Calm down. You could call me since I know how to heal instead of doing it wrong on your own."

"Well." Genn said in the distance. "I'm going to bring Tess, wait there." Genn kept moving forward.

"Come." Anduin gestured for Wrathion to sit down while looking for a pot in a closet for burns. When Anduin turned around to see him, Wrathion didn't move and was looking at him as if he was doubting. "I've already seen the scars on your back, if that's what you're trying to hide. Come." Wrathion sat down, but put on his jacket leaving it unbuttoned and Anduin sighed. "Anyway, how did you-"

"No." Wrathion looked away, the same reaction as always and Anduin sighed again.

"Okay, put your arm away."

Anduin used a burn cream around the cut. The bleeding stopped by Wrathion's action, but burning the skin wasn't a great idea. Then he personally used the Light through the cut trying to close the wound.

"Anduin! Wrathion!" they both looked in the direction and saw Tess walking fast towards them. She gave Anduin a hug as soon as she arrived. "I'm so glad to see you safe!" she gave Wrathion a hug too and he seemed surprised. "How did you get here?"

"Wrathion brought me flying." Tess widened her eyes.

"What's it like to ride a dragon?"

"Incredibly static."

"Are you okay, Wrathion? That doesn't look good..."

"It doesn't hurt." said the dragon.

"The cut is closed." Anduin clarified. "But if you hadn't burned yourself, I wouldn't have to put a bandage on you, I can't regenerate your skin." Anduin said while placing a bandage. "I don't know how long regeneration takes on a dragon, but it will heal." once he put the bandage on, Anduin realized one thing by brushing the skin, the dragon was burning. He brought his hand to Wrathion's forehead. "Do you have a fever?"

"What?" Wrathion raised his eyebrow almost laughing. "It's my normal temperature."

"Seriously?" Tess also placed her hand on his forehead.

"You're a walking bonfire then." she assured.

"And Dereck?" Anduin asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, as soon as he dropped his head on a pillow he fell asleep, but he's fine. He didn't want to leave you behind but trolls didn't stop coming and the others decided.

"It's okay, you had to do it." Wrathion said getting up and buttoning his jacket. "Have a nice night all."

"Where will you go?" Anduin asked. Wrathion shrugged. "Then come with me. We talk tomorrow?" he asked to Genn and Tess.

"There's a lot to talk about." Genn said with a sigh. "You better rest now and tomorrow... well, you will get overwhelmed."

Anduin put on a wry half smile and grabbed Wrathion to take him away. With two days absent, there were probably problems. Genn escorted Tess back to the stretcher where she was originally.

"So," Genn said, "it seems like he isn't a threat."

"Wrathion is fine, I'm glad he's on our side. He's strong, has a lot of knowledge and I don't think he will betray us. I already told you what he did for us. If I'm honest..." Tess smiled at her father. "I think he and Anduin match together very well."

"I'm afraid to hear that... in what sense, exactly?"

"Well, Wrathion is a little animal, I don't deny that, but Anduin regulates that, he makes him calmer. On the other hand, Wrathion helps Anduin to make difficult decisions, like removing someone who can do damage."

"Are you telling me that Wrathion makes Anduin not follow a path of pure light and Anduin doesn't let Wrathion follow a path of pure darkness?"

"Yes, basically that." Genn sighed.

"Well, if it's just that... I calm down."

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As soon as he got to his room, Anduin put all his weapons and backpack on the ground, took off his boots, and lit a candle. He was deeply exhausted. Wrathion put his weapons down and stretched. Anduin decided to take him because he didn't want the dragon to get into trouble like always, apart from that, he also wanted to be with him.

"I think I should ask Katherine for a room for you." Anduin said, picking up clean clothes. "Something like a servant’s bed or something."

"Is that what I am?" Wrathion asked laughing.

Anduin entered the bathroom laughing too. He changed his clothes quickly. The clothes he wore in Nazmir were full of mud, blood and cuts, he thought it wasn't worth cleaning and should be thrown away. Upon leaving he saw Wrathion inspecting the torn part of his jacket where they hit him.

"I can get you another." Wrathion looked up.

"No need, I'll sew it."

"You know how to do it?"

"Of course I know, everyone should, unless you want to depend on mom to do it."

Anduin smiled slightly, he was right, he learned to mend as a child because Bolvar suggested it. The young king left the dirty clothes in a corner and went to his backpack. The blood he took in the Underrot was still there. When he opened it, an unusual rotten smell came out. Anduin closed it again, pushing it away.

"By the Light!" it gave him a little arcade.

"If you don't want to suffocate tonight I recommend leaving that out." Anduin followed the advice. He opened the door to the balcony and left it outside. "Why did you ask me to be here?"

"Sleep here today, then tomorrow you'll have where." Wrathion frowned.

"Do I sleep standing up or what?"

"No, idiot, we can share bed. Even three people can fit in here."

"I think I better sleep on the floor." Wrathion grabbed a pillow from the closet, threw it on the floor and lay down under Anduin's stunned gaze.

"Seriously?"

"It's not the first time I sleep on the floor." Anduin sighed.

"Alright then, but if you want to get into bed, know that it doesn't bother me." Anduin blew out the only candle there was. "Good night."

As he got into bed, Anduin realized how much he had missed one. Although it was only two nights on the floor, it made him really appreciate a real bed. Wrathion stared at the ceiling with his hands behind his neck for several minutes. He wasn't sleepy even though he was tired and looked at the bed. He didn't understand why Anduin wanted him to be here, but deep down he was pleased. Hearing no movement, Wrathion got up and crept closer to the bed. He raised the blanket a little to get inside when Anduin turned around. Although Anduin couldn't see him very well, they stared at each other for a few seconds until the young king dropped his head calmly on the pillow, as if he was saying he's okay with that, and Wrathion finished getting in and covering himself. Although they weren't seeing each other, they both had a small smile.

But that wasn't the reason why Anduin wanted Wrathion to stay. For a while, there was something in his mind that wouldn't let him sleep because it worried him. Anduin turned to look at Wrathion, knowing that he was awake and would listen to him.

"Something very strange happened to me... in Nazmir."

"What?"

"I don't know very well how... A troll was going to kill Dereck and I wanted to make a Light shield to protect him, I always do that, but what came out were the shadows..." there was a silence. "I didn't want to use them, it didn't cross my mind to do it, but they came out and killed the troll without being able to control it or think about it. Simply a voice told me to kill him and it happened. I got scared."

"A voice from the Void?"

"I'm not sure about anything anymore. I have been hearing a lot of voices during those days. One I know it was Zek’voz's voice, I also heard the deformity that we killed, and this voice… it's not the first time that it tells me to kill and I don't understand anything or if it will make me lose control."

"You have never used Void powers like now before, right?"

"I used mind control for a few seconds a couple of times, but in its entirety, no."

"Your connection to the Void begins to affect you now. Unlike the Light, the Void thinks for itself and is always hungry. Now that you used it regularly it affected you this way. That you can understand the Shath'Yar sometimes or that the voices reach you more easily doesn't surprise me."

"So will it get worse? I thought it would be the same with the Light, with it I only had to have faith, now what? What should I think about the Void if it can do this to me? What if I don't end up controlling it? Should I stop? What if it forces me to do things I don't want to like killing? Or worse, what if I end up going crazy?" Wrathion placed a finger on Anduin's lips, making him shut up.

"When you look at the Void, the Void also looks at you. That's something you should know. At that time you probably felt desperate and you weren't thinking clearly. When your judgment is clouded, the Void can see it, that's why it happened to you. It's not that you should stop using it. Like everything in this life, you must practice it."

"But I was already practicing."

"This isn't like training to fight, this depends on your mental strength of the moment, you will never stop practicing. You can live with it if you're willing, otherwise, in the end, things that you don't like will happen."

"So," Anduin mused. "will this be my personal enemy for the rest of my life?"

"Probably." Anduin looked at the ceiling leaving a long sigh.

"Perfect..."

"Hey," Wrathion got up slightly. "it doesn't have to hinder your day to day. The Void takes advantage of people who despair and abandon, but with you it will lose, you don't give up easily. Everything mental can be resisted with time and practice, you can overcome all this. And if you need help, I'm here, okay?" Anduin took a deep breath and turned to Wrathion.

"Okay."

Anduin relaxed and closed his eyes. He didn't have to bear it alone, even if it was complicated, he had Wrathion's help, just like in the beginning. Lately he felt more comfortable with him than with anyone else. Anduin couldn't point the exact reason, he assumed that it was an accumulation of circumstances, Wrathion transmitted a security that the young king couldn't feel with anyone today. As much as he hides things from him, Anduin needed him.

"Thanks, Wrathion."

The dragon moved to the side to come face to face with Anduin. Without saying a word, Wrathion stroked the back of Anduin's hand with one finger, hoping he would get the message that he would be with him. Anduin didn't say anything, just smiled and settled down to sleep at once. He would need strength for tomorrow, surely it would be another day to remember. Wrathion stared at him when Anduin fell asleep and smiled watching his calm face. He couldn't help stroking Anduin's cheek gently with one finger.

"_Di borel'ta, Anduin..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Void is the opposite of Anduin, that's why I want to make this conexion, I think it would be fun (not for Anduin ofc). Anyway, see you next chapter!


	23. Arathi's Warfront

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Finally I have the Spanish and the English translation on the same chapter, I can breath now TT Still I don't know why I created that presure, stupid brain. I used to update every 4 days or so, but now that I don't have that presure I'll take a bit more for update. Does it mean I'll update every month? Hell no, maybe a week, but you will have new chapters.  
I had some problems this time too with some translations, but I hope you can get the idea.  
Anyway, enjoy this new chapter ^^

Anduin woke up later than ever. Judging by sunlight streaming into the room, it was almost noon. Anduin stretched out his arms while yawning when he realized that Wrathion was sitting in a chair finishing sewing his jacket.

"Don't tell me you spent all night sewing." Anduin asked, a little sleepy.

"I started an hour ago, I thought you would never wake up." the young king approached the dragon.

"Wait a moment." Anduin took a closer look at him. "Have you showered with your clothes on?" Wrathion laughed.

"I went to swim in a lake this morning and while I was at it I washed my clothes, I don't need a shower. When I came back you were right where I left you."

"You can't do things normally from what I see. I'll go to shower, but in a normal way."

"Depends on what you interpret as normal."

Anduin smiled inwardly as he picked up clothes and went into the bathroom at once. He preferred to take a cold and quick shower to remove the sleepy feeling. Now that he had slept well, he realized that his legs ached from the whole time he was running around Nazmir. After a few minutes, they both headed out to the kitchens. Anduin felt that his own stomach was devouring itself, he couldn't take it anymore. Before arriving, Genn caught him from behind. Apparently he had been waiting for a while with Tess to update him, but Anduin insisted that he wanted to eat while they talked. Tess was soon discharged. Aside from the low blood levels, she had no other issues and just had to rest, something that greatly relieved Anduin.

The young king didn't think twice about taking all the food that was there and bringing it to the table where he began to devour everything quickly. Genn was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Wrathion sat next to Anduin and, unlike him, didn't eat too much.

"And Dereck?" Anduin asked Tess after taking a drink of coffee.

"Oh, still in bed. He woke up, but preferred to fall asleep again. They have to discharge him too."

"I can do it later." Tess nodded in agreement.

"Now..." Tess looked at her father and nodded as if she wanted him to speak. "Things I've been told that you should know..."

"Anduin," started Genn. "know that in the end I couldn't cover up for a long time. Everyone found out that you left and they're pretty mad at you in general. They want a lot of explanations so you can start thinking about what you will say, a meeting will be held soon."

"I ran into Jaina earlier." Tess added. "She has accused you of being irresponsible for 'doing something crazy' and what especially makes her angry is that you didn't say anything." Anduin went to get another cookie when he realized that there were no more.

"I'm starving." the young king said making Genn frown.

"Are you even listening?" Anduin took another bag of food.

"Perfectly, but what can I say? I already imagined that nobody would take it well." Anduin sat down again.

"We will go to that meeting and say what’s going on, without further ado." Wrathion said.

"You better don’t talk much." Genn pointed out.

"Anything else other than they want my head?" Anduin asked.

"Our front in Arathi is going very well, much of the Horde has been driven out. The base camp is in Stromgarde and we have the entire southern area of Arathi under control." Anduin was thoughtful.

"Is the place being used?"

"Used? Not yet, what use do you want to give it?"

"There are mines and an abundant amount of wood out there, and the land is good for farming." Genn paid more attention, waiting to hear where he really wanted to go. "While trying to sleep these days, I was thinking about Arathi. If we rebuild Stromgarde... I was thinking of giving the city to you and Tyrande, to all the survivors of Teldrassil." Genn eyes widened.

"Do you want to give it... to us?"

"A provisional Darnassus. As there's no other place to go and we have the cities a little saturated, I thought that if we rebuilt Stromgarde well, I would give it to you. Arathi could be an opportunity to have a home again, more or less."

"I didn't expect this..." Genn ran a hand through his hair and a small laugh escaped him. "Wow, it sounds great, I don't deny it, although it will be something in the long term."

"Of course. I'll comment to Tyrande later."

"She may like the idea..." Genn was silent for a few seconds. "Ah, I almost forgot to say that Leo woke up yesterday." Wrathion paid special attention.

"What did he say?" asked the dragon.

"He hasn't said much, he's quite terrified and confused, he doesn't trust anyone."

"Well, it's normal, his last months are blank."

"Should we try talking to him?" Anduin asked Wrathion.

"Yes, of course, as soon as we have a moment. He has spent less time asleep than I expected."

"Speaking of sleeping." Anduin smiled slightly when he looked at Wrathion. "Have you ever been told that you speak in dreams?" Wrathion stared at him somewhat surprised.

"Seriously? What did I say?"

"I don't know, you were speaking in Draconic so I didn't understand anything."

"Did someone tell you that you have the deepest sleep ever?"

"Yes." replied Tess. "Me and probably anyone who has slept near him."

Anduin looked away smiling. Everyone who slept near him told him the same thing, some even failed to wake him up in a normal way and had to shake him excessively to wake him up from deep sleep. But if Anduin felt calm and in a good mood, he always slept like this.

They spent some time there while Genn detailed the troop movements on the Arathi front until Anduin stopped eating. Genn asked him to prepare for the meeting that would take place in an hour and left.

Anduin, in an attempt to get rid of that concern for a while, decided to visit Dereck to discharge him if he was still there. Along the way some guards looked at him surprised or frowning. Anduin began to think that his trip to Nazmir was explained as if it had been something bad and disrespectful and that was why they were glaring at him. It was better if he didn't think about it too much, Anduin was sure that he did the right thing.

Fortunately, he didn't find Velen in the room. Probably he would have given him the talk and wouldn't be as indulgent as Genn was, so he was quite relieved. Anduin saw Dereck removing the bandages from his shoulder as he approached him. Dereck looked twice before realizing who was there, opened his eyes in surprise and gave him a friendly hug without thinking.

"Thank the Light!" Dereck looked at him, sad. "I didn't want to leave you but-"

"No, no," Anduin cut. "don't feel any guilt. You did well to leave."

"I didn't like doing it. How did you get out of there?"

"We hid first and Wrathion brought me later. Let me see you to discharge you."

Anduin took a quick look of Dereck's general condition. At first glance, he was perfectly fine, just a little exhausted and with some occasional pain. Dereck was lost in his thoughts without speaking when Anduin finished. The young king was surprised to see him so serious. Maybe he took trauma from the place?

"Do you feel good mentally? I see you a little discouraged."

"Huh?" Dereck looked at him. "Oh, I'm fine, really." Anduin thought he was lying and cocked his head. "You knew that, right?" he asked, almost whispering.

"Knew what?" Dereck sighed slowly.

"That Tess loves me." Anduin opened his eyes, going blank without knowing what to answer.

"Hummm... Why are you asking me this now, exactly?"

"Tess told me yesterday."

"Wow... It was about time." Dereck raised his eyebrows. "Well, I… I knew it."

"I imagined that she told you considering you usually talk about these things."

"And you…?" Dereck looked away.

"When I met Tess I didn't know who she was. She joined SI:7 one day and Mathias told me to show her a couple of things and teach her the basics so that she could see the teamwork among us. I thought she was pretty and very nice. In a few days, I found out that she was the princess of Gilneas and I was amazed."

"Did you like it?"

"Very much. Compatriots and she was a princess, it seemed one of those beautiful tales. As soon as her training period was over, she asked to go on missions with me because we were well matched and I couldn't be more delighted. It's normal that we liked each other because we understood each other well."

"You never told her what you think? She didn't hint at you either?"

"I never told her anything. She was throwing many hints at me, once even joking about going to live together. Everything was always in the air, but I played dumb. There was never an 'I like you' or 'I love you'." Dereck smiled. "Isn't that funny?"

"There must be a problem I don't know about, neither does Tess..." Dereck mused.

"There are a lot of things that we don't know about each other, even if we're friends." Anduin was thoughtful. It was true, their friendship tended to be professional, personal things were never told. "Like, you know, when I went to school and the other children spit at me calling me a foreigner." Anduin looked at the window, didn't know that about Dereck and understood what he was referring to now.

"I never got to know my mother." Anduin looked at him again. "I can't visualize her face well, nor do I know what her voice sounds like, or her hobbies... Technically it's as if I don't know who she is." Dereck smiled at him slightly.

"I sat with my grandmother for half an hour and held her hand before telling anyone that she was dead." Anduin put his hand on Dereck's shoulder and Dereck did the same to him. "Why do we never tell these things?"

"Who knows? Sometimes we push away even with the ones we love."

"I think I'll ask Tess for a date and get to know us much further, to know the things we never said and to know how far this feeling can go." Anduin smiled.

"Well, I'm discharging you then."

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Anduin returned to his room before the meeting. He had to think very well what to say if he was going to face angry leaders, but he felt calm because Wrathion would be by his side and would help. Opening the balcony door, he picked up his backpack with the blood from the Underrot. When he opened it a little, the stink smell came out, the blood was still there and closed quickly as he couldn't take another second. Anduin hung the backpack over his shoulder and looked for Wrathion before anything else. The dragon was waiting on the stairs the whole time, ready for the talk. Anduin began to think that they would probably ask more for Wrathion's head than his. Genn in his day already thought that it was the dragon who convinced him and Anduin was sure that the others would think the same. But he wasn't going to leave him with that problem, this time he wouldn't let him leave, he would defend him.

They entered together to the same room that was used the last time. By then there were only Genn, Mekkatorque, Tyrande and Malfurion. Anduin noticed that Tyrande had tied her hair into a ponytail and two braids that fell to her chest. Although he could still see the color of her head wound, it wasn't as showy as before and Anduin was happy, the recovery was going well. Although there were only a few, the atmosphere was already a bit weird, nobody said a word and the silence was devastating. The air grew even heavier when everyone else appeared. The accusing and angry looks were coming from various directions and Anduin began to feel very uncomfortable.

"Look who's back." Jaina said when she arrived. "How was the adventure? Did you have a good time?" she asked accusingly.

"I've missed you too." Wrathion replied with a very exaggerated sarcastic tone. "And it went very well, thanks for asking."

"Oh really? Judging by the state in which the others arrived, it doesn't look like it went well."

"That's because you didn't come, you would have loved it."

Anduin raised his hand slightly as he placed the backpack at his feet so that Wrathion wouldn't continue with that. The sarcastic tone he was using wouldn't help and he preferred this conversation to not get out of hand.

"What is he doing here?" Turalyon asked, pointing to Wrathion. "Wasn't he going away?"

"He's helping me." Anduin replied. "I had to know what we were dealing with."

"'We'? Now is there a 'we'? Curious, because I don't remember that you told us something about this trip."

"Would you have agreed?" Wrathion asked him. "Or would you have insisted on continue with the Horde?"

"Shut up, dragon, you have no right. You are to blame for all this." Jaina said.

"Ah, sorry, but no, does it hurt that I told the truth? Let's be honest, if we had suggested it, would you have cared? Would you have agreed? Would you have even allowed it?"

"You know what? I don't know, you didn't ask so now we'll never know."

"Don't play that blackmail, I can see the intention miles away. Here we all know how you people would have reacted to the proposition, don't try to play the ignored offended. G’huun is too important to ignore it."

"Ah yes. 'G’huun' the semi old god..." Jaina murmured sarcastically.

"What you did..." Turalyon said. "Look, I can't say about the dragon because he isn't even part of the Alliance. But Anduin, that you left surprises me, what were you trying? To rebel against our decisions?"

"Now you talk about 'ours'?" asked Anduin, almost outraged. "I didn't agree with that decision to attack Dazar’alor, just like others didn’t like it either." Turalyon frowned.

"Who else didn't agree?"

"Well, I didn't agree." Genn replied.

"No, you left your position clear when you covered him up, you already made clear the betrayal with him." he pointed to Anduin.

"Hey, assuming that is too hasty. No one has betrayed anyone. The problem is that there isn't enough communication between us and in the end we have to make decisions on our own."

"Not knowing what is in Nazmir was dangerous." Anduin added.

"And what is in Nazmir?" Tyrande asked. "I'm curious, how is it?"

"Well... quite chaotic."

"Who cares?" Jaina said, tired.

"I'm interested." Tyrande countered. "Since they have gone there and come back alive, I would like to know. I don't want to reject information like that. Did you find G’huun?"

"No." Anduin replied. "We had problems with the blood trolls, it is plagued. But what we saw was Uldir, the installation of the titans."

"I've never heard of Uldir..." Alleria murmured.

"It's been pretty much left out of the Titans' records." Wrathion said. "That's why not many people know it."

"What about those blood trolls?" Velen asked.

"They are very simple people with even simpler aspirations." Wrathion scratched the back of his neck. "They are very primitive and superstitious. They sought power so G’huun tricked them with promises of power if they used blood magic and they fell for it. Their customs are sadistic. The priestesses have the supreme authority, only G’huun is above, then there are the warriors and nameless slaves. They also have several creatures at their disposal, most of them want to suck your blood."

"Sounds like one of those places I would go on vacation." Genn commented sarcastically.

"You would love it. Apart from all this, one more thing."

Wrathion looked at Anduin and then at the backpack at his feet, nodded for him to show it. The young king sighed, it was time to show the truth. He picked up the small backpack and opened it a little, letting the smell out. Nauseated, he dropped the blood onto the table and they all backed away. The blood was even more decomposing than before, still in the form of a sha and a half troll head floating inside. Most of them covered their noses with one hand when smelling it, and many of them put on a disgusted face.

"What is that?" Tyrande asked in disgust.

"It's a gift." Wrathion replied. "We bought it in the Nazmir’s gift shop, it is made by G’huun so it's not imitation." he said it with such a smile that he almost made Anduin laugh.

"A G’huun infection dropped it when we fought it." Anduin clarified.

"An infection of what?" Genn asked from behind his hand.

"From what we found there, G’huun created an infection in the form of a ball of blood. Blood trolls offered sacrifices, trolls' bodies or whatever, to devour them and grow big. It was about three meters when we saw it, formed by parts of other bodies. When we made a cut, blood like this would jump." he pointed to the one they had. "As you can see, it still has a part of a troll."

"It's disgusting…"

"Well, it's your future." Wrathion said seriously. "This is only a sample of what will happen to you if G’huun gets out. Long ago, because of the old gods, the earth was contaminated and no form of life could exist, life couldn't begin because it decomposed and became that." he pointed to the blood. "If you aren't with us, you will be one of these." Wrathion puffed out his cheeks and blew a small flare at the blood to melt it until nothing was left. "This is what will happen to all of us if G’huun leaves Uldir and spreads his pestilence."

"There were seals, right?" Genn said. "If they are broken, why is G'huun still there?"

"I'm not sure but... I think it's because of the Horde." Wrathion scratched the back of his neck. "We have seen them running around, I wouldn't be surprised if they were complicating things."

"That is something relevant." Jaina said. "It is good news that they are distracted by that."

"For you everything goes in one ear and out the other, right?" Wrathion asked.

"Is not that." Turalyon replied. "It is only contemplating information. Even if the Horde is distracted by this whole thing, we could still take advantage. We could even talk to the blood trolls and trick them into neutralizing the Horde in Nazmir."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Jaina added. "Maybe we can reach an agreement and then take care of them. I know it is despicable, but today you have to do whatever it takes to survive."

Anduin was surprised at first to hear all that, but then he let out a weary sigh and rubbed his eyes with one hand. It was only a few hours after he woke up, but he was sleepy again. Wrathion suddenly laughed. It was an exaggerated laugh, but he seemed to be having a great time with this conversation.

"Let's see if I understand." Wrathion said, trying to regain his composure. "Do you want to negotiate with the blood trolls simply to neutralize a pair of Horde warriors?" Wrathion stopped laughing but kept smiling. "And I took you for someone smart, it shows that you don't know anything about them."

"You are the cause of all this and still believe you had some-"

"No." the dragon cut the mage. "Don't be wrong, do you want me to tell you what would happen if you did something like that? One of these things will happen: One, they will kill you and use your blood for some sacrifice or fortification. Two, they can try to get you to join them. Three, they say yes but then they kill you later. Do you want to try to negotiate with them? Good luck, you will need it. But you have been warned, you won't be able to negotiate with them."

"I don't think they will kill us if we kill them first." clarified Jaina. "It is not the first time that we neutralize in this way. The Horde remains the most real threat and must be ended."

"Ah yes. 'The Horde' is the real threat..." Wrathion murmured sarcastically, Jaina gave him an intense glare.

"Hey..." Anduin said with a sigh. "You don't know how many blood trolls are really there. Making a deal with them is not an option, they will ignore you. They only care about one thing and that is power through blood. We have nothing to offer, nor do we have anything to assault them."

"We are not so poor." Jaina said. "We have enough gadgets to tr-"

"You are wrong there too." Anduin looked at everyone. "We have no resources, we are running out of it. We cannot build artillery, we cannot make new weapons, nor do we have enough soldiers. We cannot force jobs, production or trade because there is not enough money. This is reality, we are in crisis."

"Since when?" Velen asked, worried after a silence.

"For a while now. We cannot storm the Horde."

"Oh, and we can storm Uldir?" asked Alleria a bit sarcastic.

"We don't need an army or heavy artillery for that." Wrathion replied. "But right now I think that's a conversation for another time." the dragon looked at Anduin. "I suppose you want to discuss this."

"Thank you." Anduin said, then he looked at the others with determination. "There is something that can be done, a long term solution. The warfront we have in Arathi right now."

"Arathi?" asked Moira surprised.

"This whole area is very important, Arathi and even the The Hinterlands are very good places.Arathi is important because it has the Thandol Span that connects to the south of the Eastern Kingdoms, we need to have it under control. We need the primary resources in the north."

"But the Horde is still there, they won't let us run around. What is your plan?" Moira insisted.

"I want us to win the front that we have there. This whole area is rich in primary resources such as wood or iron, it is also land that we can cultivate. Not to mention the Azerite, that entire area has not been heavily exploited." Anduin took a few seconds of silence. "I told Genn this before but I say it in general, especially to you, Tyrande." the elf cocked her head slightly. "I thought that if we end up controlling Arathi, I would give it to the survivors of Teldrassil." there was a small silence of surprise.

"To us?" Tyrande asked with wide eyes.

"I want to give you Stromgarde, it can be rebuilt. I know it is not your real home, but you people need to recover from what happened. Now we have saturated cities and it is starting to be a problem, especially for food. But if we control Arathi we could get out of this, even if it’s a little bit, it's worth it. We should focus on these things."

"It's a very good idea." Turalyon admitted. "I will not deny it, but we cannot start dividing troops on two such large fronts."

"I try to satisfy your desire to kill the Horde in a more useful way. Instead of jumping into a protected city, as Dazar’alor will be, we could secure a point that would help us personally."

"I would much rather knock on their doors..." Jaina said quietly.

"That can be postponed." Anduin sighed, putting his hands to his head, exhausted. "What cannot be understood? We don't have that much, we have enough resources for what we are now, but in a while, we will be doomed. Wherever the threat comes from, we must be prepared. We have to fill our reserves, we need trade to be on the move, I am sick of everything being stopped. There are people who have to start from zero, have stable jobs again and contribute to this, Arathi is a solution."

There was silence, gazes everywhere and thoughtful faces. Anduin noticed that at least they didn't seem to be against it and were seriously considering it. Jaina walked in a very confined space thinking without stopping looking at Wrathion as if he was to blame for everything. The dragon realized about it.

"Big things have small beginnings." Wrathion said. Jaina seemed genuinely surprised as soon as she heard that. "Someone told me that long ago, and he was quite right. These kinds of steps are usually in the right direction."

"The world is big." Anduin said. "And the threats, even more. Let's start dealing with the small things. Danath is in Arathi, according to the letters, he is doing well, but he needs a strategist... I think it would be good if it were you, Moira."

"Huh?" the dwarf looked surprised at the young king. "Why me?"

"You fought alongside my father, he told me that you learned very fast and showed talent as a strategist, that's why I think that you and your Dark Iron dwarves could help Danath a lot. I'm not forcing you, it's just a proposition, you can say no."

"I can try." Moira smiled. "Yes, I will." Anduin was pleased.

"I agree with everything about Arathi." Turalyon said. "But I still don't agree with what you did. You should answer for it."

"And what do you want to do to them?" Velen asked. "Whipping them down the street?"

"Maybe not that." Jaina said. "But there should be a retaliation. I do not agree at all with what they did."

Jaina went out the door, for her it was all over. Turalyon and Alleria did the same, they didn't want to argue. Anduin already imagined that some would be angry, but he was surprised by Jaina's attitude. It seemed that her desires for revenge against the Horde revived with much more intensity now that war was declared. Anduin may have naively believed that Jaina overcame it.

Tyrande stayed when everyone left the room. Since it was announced to give Stromgarde to the survivors of Teldrassil, both Genn and Tyrande were the representatives who should get more involved. Tyrande was still surprised by the idea.

"I have to say that..." Tyrande began. "It is a beautiful detail. It is not our forests, but it may be an opportunity for those who want to rebuild their lives, within what is possible, after Teldrassil."

"I want to tell you that I understand you." Anduin sighed. "I understand that you wanted revenge for what happened and I have never really wanted to question your motivations, it's just that..." Anduin didn't know how to continue.

"I'm tired." Tyrande sighed. "I have lived a lot between wars, whether they were races from here or from another planet. But I didn't imagine that the worst thing of all is when you realize that you have been manipulated in the worst possible way, I'm tired of being the puppet of an old god. I will not give up revenge, the Horde will pay, but it will not be under the rules of N’Zoth."

"Thank you." Anduin said with a smile.

"Thank you for offering such an opportunity to my people. We will take Arathi."

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Anduin was confined for now. It was a decision Jaina made to make sure he 'wouldn't do another crazy thing.' He wouldn't leave Boralus, he would stay to do work. It wasn't something he liked and felt like Jaina was treating him like a rebellious little boy, but since he didn't have true authority in Kul Tiras and that several leaders agreed, he couldn't say much either. His only support was Wrathion, who told him that if he wanted to escape, the dragon would take him wherever he wanted.

For now, Anduin decided not to argue. The meeting ended much more tense than it looked like and he considered that the best thing would be to relax the mood a little and don't say anything until the anger passed.

At least they would let him pay more attention to Arathi's front. Tyrande was going to lend enough Kaldorei to the cause just as Genn would lend more than half of his own people. He was still surprised with Tyrande, in the end she was on his side, he never imagined something like that. Before, they barely exchanged words and usually used to have discussions, in a short time everything changed too much, but he was glad that in the end she realized about how things truly are. When conflicts with the Horde began in Silithus, Genn said something very similar about being tired. He was going to go to war if necessary and he would always want to avenge his people, but Genn was also exhausted from all this after so many years, he felt an increasingly heavy mental fatigue. Maybe when you reach a certain peak in your life, after so many wars, you start to see things from another perspective.

Anduin spent the entire afternoon writing letters to Muradin and Danath regarding Arathi. As Moira ended up accepting the proposition, they would now have a new advantage. The Dark Iron dwarves knew that territory well, and sending such a good strategist could be the start of something great.

Before dinner, Anduin and Genn met in the kitchens. They chatted about the units that would take to Arathi and try a final assault. They knew that the Horde had a base called Ar’gorok in the north, almost on the Hillsbrad Foothills, commanded by a general. If they managed to kick them out, the rest would come alone.

Wrathion joined them after a while. Apparently he felt bored without being able to continue with the whole G’huun topic and without Anduin, so he preferred to stay to listen to tedious war moves without participating in the conversation.

As usual, Mia and Tess arrived at dinner time. Tess took Dereck, already recovered, to accompany them and enjoy the evening after a few days in Nazmir.

"Mathias told me something that alarmed me." Dereck said as he filled a glass of water. "Apparently, some leaders want to know about the movements of the Horde in Nazmir and plan to send a very select group, including Mathias, to verify the points they have passed through and what they have destroyed."

"I also heard that the idea comes from Jaina." added Tess. "Apparently she wants to be sure and not make any mistakes because she still has the idea of assaulting Dazar’alor."

"I hoped Jaina, after so long, had overcome that hatred of the Horde." Mia commented, sad. "But the wound left by Theramore is still there."

"Yeah." Anduin said, discouraged. "Now that she has smelled revenge so close, she doesn't want to let it go."

"I'm more impressed by Turalyon's attitude or Velen's." Genn said. "I suppose that for Turalyon it’s a bit complicated because he has just arrived in Azeroth after a thousand years and has to face this problem and still has the mentality... of that time. But I don't understand why Velen evaded it so much."

"I think he has lost his way a bit after the Burning Legion." Mia commented. "It was always his enemy, wasn't it? Archimonde and Kil’jaeden dead, Sargeras locked up… that's what he said. I think Velen has lost a part of his life in all that and knows nothing else. This big conflict will seem very small and indifferent to him after being involved in a war that has followed him for centuries throughout the Great Dark Beyond."

"It may be that, and I can understand it." Anduin said as he wiped the sauce off the plate with a piece of bread. "But he shouldn't evade these problems, this is his and his people’s world now."

"He may also be very tired from the war and simply go with the flow, letting himself be bossed around a bit." Genn dropped. Mia nudged him, lovingly.

"Don't be bad." Anduin chuckled lightly as he continued to clean the sauce off his plate with bread.

"I don't like this sauce from Drustvar." said the young king while not leaving a single drop. Dereck laughed.

"He doesn't like it, he says." Dereck looked at him. "You almost lick the plate."

"They educated me to not leave anything on the plate."

"Anduin is like that." Tess said while she pointed at him and Wrathion. "It's funny, you're day and night, one eats and the other barely does it."

"Anduin eats for both of us." Wrathion replied.

"You should eat once in a while anyway." Anduin said.

When the time came for dessert, Anduin forced the dragon to eat a little, Wrathion reluctantly agreed. They chatted while some had coffee about Nazmir and the things they saw. Anduin, although a little unsure, told Genn about the voices he heard and the old wolf became concerned. He wasn't amused that he was hearing voices from the Void and other creatures if that was going to drive him crazy, but Anduin assured him that he was perfectly fine.

Shortly after talking, the door suddenly opened. It was Taelia looking very nervous, a guard had guided her there. She especially got close to Anduin and Wrathion.

"Guys, I need your help because you're the experts in this." Anduin frowned in confusion.

"What happened?"

"It's Leo." Wrathion raised his head. "There's something wrong, I don't know if it's a side effect of what you did to him but... he wants to kill himself."

"What!?" Anduin's jaw dropped.

"I don't know what really happens to him. He was scared at first but as soon as he found out what happened the-"

"What do you mean 'found out what happened'?" Wrathion asked. "What did you tell him?"

"Pike explained to him that he was possessed and the things he did." Wrathion jumped from his chair.

"But why the fuck he told him that? And worse to a child who won't understand." the dragon sighed tiredly. "Really, you can't be left alone for five minutes." Wrathion left the place running followed by Anduin.

Taelia guided them through the dark streets of Boralus while explaining that Leo went up to a building, ready to jump. He was transported to the Stormsong Monastery when he woke up and was in care, but things went wrong when they explained what happened. Leo didn't know how to react, didn't know that his father was a traitor, nor that they used his body so that the Stormsong Valley was almost destroyed in a faction war.

After crossing the water that separated the Stormsong Monastery with the rest of Boralus, they reached the remote island dedicated to the Tidesages. There were quite a few people and, as they approached the tower, they saw Pike. The old Tidesage looked somewhat relieved to see them. He told them that Leo climbed even higher, almost to the top. Anduin approached the base of the building.

"Leo!" Anduin couldn't see the little one well in the dark, but I could see a small lump on top. "Wait! Don't do anything! We'll take you down from there!"

"Get out!" Leo screamed.

Anduin looked at Pike, the poor man looked scared, he didn't want Leo to do such a crazy thing. Then Wrathion took a few steps to the wall and began to climb. He was climbing with an ease that surprised Anduin. On that wall, the dragon stuck his fingers a little to climb quickly and effortlessly. Once he passed over the big clock, he only had to jump a couple of times until he reached the peak where Leo was. Wrathion raised his hand calmly, making Leo understand that he was coming in peace. Leo was still wearing the sling on his right arm and his eyes were very lost with huge bags under his eyes, he looked ill.

"Hello, Leo." Wrathion began. "You don't know me, but I do know you."

"Before or after?" the little boy wanted to know.

"I met you when you were under control. I realized that you were like this and I told someone who could free you, so that you could be you again."

"I don't know who I am... I don't know who I am!"

"Yes you know, you are Leo, remember?" Wrathion grabbed the structure with his left hand to avoid falling and approached the little one, but he backed away.

"Stay away." Wrathion stopped.

"Okay, everything is fine, it's okay."

"Nothing is okay!" Leo sobbed. "I'm alone! Someone snatched my memories and part of my people, I no longer know what is real or not. I don't even know what happened to my parents!"

"Leo, they've used you, but that doesn't mean the end. All this can be fixed if you let us. I'll tell you what really happened because the one who did this is my enemy and I know well what he did to you." Leo hesitated.

"They say it was an old god from the deeps, but I'm not sure what that is."

"I can explain it to you, I'll tell you everything if you let me."

"And my parents? They say that I won't see them again, but it's not like that. My mother only fell asleep... My father was going to... would come, I thought so, but they said he left. I don't understand it well." Wrathion sighed, Leo didn't understand the concept of death well, nor did he understand the betrayal of his father. "And then there are my people, they will hate me because I abandoned them, what do I tell them?"

"Leo, everyone understands that it wasn't you who made the decisions."

"But I don't get it! I'm doomed! I have destroyed everything!" Wrathion took a few seconds of silence.

"Just listen to me for a moment. I know very well the confusion you're going through, really. I know what it's like to want to die as soon as you realize the damage you've done and feel so disoriented... so lost. However," Wrathion stepped closer, offering his hand. "I also know how important it is when you're given a second chance to mend all your mistakes and start again, If you're willing to do it and let us help you.

Leo looked at him suspiciously at first, but his eyes were filled with tears suddenly. Very carefully, Leo advanced towards Wrathion slowly until the dragon took him by the hand and drew him by grabbing by the waist, bringing him to safety. They descended fairly quickly from the tower, Wrathion was agile enough.

Wrathion carried Leo in his arms to the others. Pike tried to approach rather relieved but the dragon raised his hand to stop him and then pointed at Anduin.

"Do you recognize him?" Wrathion asked Leo. The little boy frowned slightly.

"I think I've seen him, but I'm not sure."

"He freed you." Leo looked at Anduin half surprised. "Let's talk you and me. Alone."

He remarked that word as soon as he looked at Pike. Knowing that it was he who told him everything without considering that Leo was just a boy, Wrathion preferred if he didn't get involved in the conversation. He let Anduin accompany them inside the Monastery and they were alone in one room. Wrathion left Leo sitting on a bed and grabbed a chair to sit in front of him. Anduin leaned against the door.

"Are you calm now?" Wrathion asked, Leo nodded slowly. "Okay, do you remember anything from the past few months?"

"I can't say, most of them are blank. I remember fragments, talking to some people."

"Can you tell which people?" Leo shook his head. "Are you sure there is nothing you remember clearly?"

"I remember what I felt, I remember feeling scared and confused most of the time. And also the voice."

"What voice?"

"He promised me... He said he would."

"In your dreams?" Leo nodded and denied a second later.

"At first it was in dreams, but then I heard him awake, we made a deal."

"What deal?"

"He would leave everything as it was before." as soon as he said it, his eyes filled with tears. "The three of us would be together again before they separated because of me."

"Why would you have any fault?"

"He said that children separate adults." Wrathion sighed while rubbing his eyes with his hand. He was very innocent, N’Zoth could easily deceive him. "If my father knew what I have done…"

"Who cares about what your father thinks? It's your life that was put in danger, your father signed his destiny long ago."

"I have caused many problems." tears fell down her cheeks. "I caused their separation."

"Leo..." Wrathion moved a little closer. "You haven't broken their marriage. No child has the power to do that, just as you didn’t have the power to make them come together again." Wrathion took a second of silence. "But you do have the power to screw your own life completely, so I would think twice before making that type of decision." Leo wiped away his tears.

"What happened then?"

Wrathion explained to him as well as he knew and as gently as he could what N’Zoth was, what happened to his parents, and what he did to Leo afterwards. Anduin didn't dare say a word the whole time, the dragon was good enough to speak to a child who didn't quite understand what death was. Leo ended up crying a little more, he was afraid of what N’Zoth was and understood that he would never see his parents again. As advice, Wrathion told him to look for a distraction, something he could channel his concentration into so that he could clear his mind gradually instead of thinking about what happened and maybe some memories of those days would come back. Anduin came to feel some admiration for how Wrathion handled the situation, it seemed even adorable to see him dealing with Leo so gently. Although once everything was cleared up, as soon as he went out and saw Pike, Wrathion threatened that if Pike did the crazy thing to tell Leo all at once without any tact when Leo's mind was still very disturbed, he would cut his throat.

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The next day, Anduin had a small meeting with Mathias and Genn in the morning. Mathias had assembled a very effective group of SI:7 agents to investigate Nazmir, which included himself. It wasn't a problem until he commented that he needed someone who had been there and wanted to join them. Although they asked some survivors, they all rejected. Only the four of them remained to ask.

Anduin couldn't go for obvious reasons, if he did, the tension between the leaders would get worse. Wrathion wasn't going to spy on the Horde, he would do nothing for the Alliance. That led to Tess and Dereck. Genn wasn't entirely in agreement with taking them because they were still recovering, especially Tess, but Mathias insisted that they couldn't go blindly. Anduin decided that he would speak to them to see who would be more willing, but he wouldn't force them if they refused.

Anduin took a few minutes at noon to speak to both of them. Tess didn't like hearing what Mathias was up to. They just came back from there and are still recovering from the trauma.

"I'll go." Dereck said, offering himself. Tess placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No, no way. You know perfectly what that place is like."

"Precisely for that, for knowing it. They cannot go alone." Tess shook her head.

"I don't like it at all..."

"Tess, now I know how the place is like and I can give good advice. Also, if Mathias comes, we will go even more cautiously, you know how he does things." Tess crossed her arms thoughtfully. "You know I'm going to come back and, when I do, we can take that walk we talked about."

"Dereck..." Tess sighed.

"I have to help them. If all goes well, maybe we will know if we can kill G’huun soon, it was the main objective of that little adventure, right?"

Tess was frowning in concern, but Dereck spoke to reassure her. Anduin saw that the way they talked to each other now was much closer and more loving than before, they finally left the professional attitude that they used to transmit many times, that made him happy. For a long time, he always thought that Tess deserved someone as sincere and good as Dereck was.

In the end, after a long talk, Tess gave in to the idea. Dereck would take every possible precaution, he promised until he couldn't do it more.

Now that he saw them both, Anduin had an idea. He should discuss it with Wrathion before anything else and see if he agreed since he was the other member. Then he would discuss it with them and pray that they wouldn’t take it as a joke. Having them as guardians was something he would like very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It bother me what Blizzard did with the warfronts. In the beginning they said it wasn't canon (because if it was then all the characters you defeat would be dead) but when Nazjatar pach came they said the Alliance won both if them (??) without more explanation. I had that empty feeling with it, so I wanted to gave this use or weight to the warfront. The one in the Darshore doesn't exist for me lol, the Horde has that zone :P  
Now that I won't spend all day translating things I'll keep writing where I left it too (chapter 39 more or less) and mayyyybe I start a new sotry in a distant future, a modern AU with music involved.
> 
> btw, you can follow me on twitter if you want for updates or little spoilers (not always) @llStonesll 
> 
> Anyway, see you next chapter!


	24. Stand up to for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you're fine going through this madness. I had some problems these days when I tried to write, maybe I entered a small mental block (but back in chapter 39, the last i'm writing) and the thought of "it's not as good as I would like" attacks me a little. Welp, first world problems I guess. Anyway, I don't entertain you, this chapter was difficult in its day and I don't know if I could translate well what the characters really say, I hope it is understandable.  
Still, sorry for grammar mistakes, enjoyyy

"Let's try. Can you _plaf y’za_?" Anduin frowned.

"I only understood one word." Wrathion cocked his head.

"_But you can understand something._"

"Now I understood everything."

"How strange, I said the word 'understand' before..." Anduin frowned again.

"I don't know what to say…"

"Maybe you can understand sentences and not the word itself. Although if so, I don't know why in the same sentence you can understand only some words then." Wrathion crossed his arms. "_I ongg za ywaq qvsakf_."

"I haven't understood anything now." Wrathion smiled. Genn cleared his throat.

"The truth is that it's sinister you understand this language, boy." said the old wolf.

"I think it can be very useful." Wrathion said. "In the Underrot, I didn't feel anything, nor did I hear that there was an infection with us, but Anduin did. It can be useful, especially if we're going against an old god whose language is the one you can understand naturally. You just need practice."

Anduin finished his coffee. He began to realize that he had to practice too many things nowadays and most were related to the powers of the Void. This morning he got up a little uneasy. He heard strange voices in his sleep, sometimes in Shath'Yar, until his own sweat woke him up. When he told Wrathion, they decided to test his skill. Genn stared out of intrigue.

As soon as they started to clean up what they had soiled during breakfast, a guard from the Proudmoore house calmly entered the room and bowed slightly to Anduin.

"Your Majesty, Lord Admiral Jaina Proudmoore requests your presence." Anduin nodded.

"I will go now, thank you." the soldier bowed again and left.

"Will she slap your ass as punishment?" Wrathion asked sarcastically, Anduin smiled a little.

"Or she'll try to convince me about Dazar’alor. I'll try to convince her otherwise."

"Boy," Genn chimed in. "don't expect too much to convince her right now."

"I can convince her, I know Jaina." Anduin gave a calm smile to Genn. "Don't worry, I can fix it. If I could once make her see that the Horde wasn't so bad and that we could come to peace with them, I can do this."

"I'm just saying don't be overconfident."

Anduin shook his head calmly, he felt confident to convince her. The young king left the room to meet Jaina, leaving Genn and Wrathion alone. The dragon felt a little uncomfortable, if Anduin wasn't there, he felt out of place with anyone because of mutual distrust. But this time Genn didn't seem to be bothered.

"I'm impressed that Anduin continues with that idealistic attitude, he never changes." Genn commented. "Although I suppose you already know that he's like that. You on the other hand don't seem to be like that at all." when Genn looked at Wrathion, he realized that the dragon was looking at him a little confused. "It's called conversation what I'm trying." clarified.

"Anduin will always be idealistic, no matter what happens."

"His idealistic prejudices make him very innocent."

"That's absolutely normal..."

"Too normal in my opinion. I wish he would learn how the world is, the sooner he learns how the world works the better." after hearing that, Wrathion looked down sad and got up. He looked at Genn once more.

"I knew someone very similar to Anduin." he said in a low voice. "When it was about his own ideas, he had that same sweet, impulsive and optimistic temperament who was forced, as you said, to learn what the world is like. The result was only pain and despair." Wrathion looked at him seriously. "Don't desire that."

Genn frowned. There was something in Wrathion's tone that intrigued him, he seemed too sad.

The truth was that he didn't know anything about the dragon, unlike Anduin, he only knew the betrayal he did long ago. Tess told him that there was no problem with him. If Wrathion was important to Anduin, he could try to get along with him in some way.

"And what happened to that person?" Genn wanted to know. Wrathion started to walk towards the door.

"He died."

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Anduin walked through a narrow hallway and not many windows let daylight in. The young king wondered what Jaina would say to him now. After the last meeting, he spent a day trying to apologize for hiding his intentions regarding Nazmir and assumed that he would calm everyone down after showing regret, but they didn't pay much attention to him. He didn't even see Jaina the day before, only knew she was busy with some paperwork. Anduin thought that he lost her confidence a bit and wasn't happy about it. He loved Jaina very much and for nothing in the world he wanted to distance himself from her for something like not agreeing in a war.

The upper part of the Proudmoore Keep was quite small and without any decorations, it was a cold and dull area. The person who was Lord Admiral sat alone in an office in the central part buried between maps and reports. Anduin tapped softly on the wooden door, and from inside, he heard Jaina giving him permission to enter. The window was open and a sea smell permeated the room. Jaina was sitting writing on a scroll and didn't bother to look up.

"Lord Admiral..." Anduin said courteously.

"Thanks for coming so fast." Jaina said without looking at him yet.

"Why did you call me?"

"I still can't understand how you could do something like that. If your father was still alive, I don't even want to imagine his reaction." Anduin blinked in surprised.

"Jaina…"

"What were you thinking of?" this time she looked at him.

"I was thinking of protecting ourselves from the threats of the Void, really dangerous things."

"Why do you have these things in your head? You've never been so stubborn about something, you didn't even give so many problems when you were talking about making peace with the Horde in the most stubborn way."

"Since when do you sneakily insult me?" asked Anduin indignantly.

"Since you're king and decide to do crazy things! It was the dragon, wasn't he?"

"Why do you want to get Wrathion into this?"

"Because it's obvious that he's manipulating you, it all started when he appeared..."

"He doesn't manipulate me, I made the decision."

"And how do you know he doesn't lie to you?" Anduin didn’t answer. "I should have given you this talk long ago. Why did you start talking to him to begin with? I have never understood it, you knew he was a black dragon, you know what they're like, why?"

"I was intrigued. I was intrigued by him because he wasn't corrupted and we became friends, nothing strange on that." Anduin didn't understand, why was she asking him that? Jaina snorted.

"Varian should have forbidden you to stay in that tavern, or I should have, now it's late."

Jaina looked down again to revise the report she was previously writing. Anduin was speechless. They had never argued in this way, nor she had reproached his personal decisions before. Jaina signed the scroll and sealed it using cast wax with the symbol of the nation.

"By the way," said Jaina. "I warn you that I won't be able to send anyone from my people to the Arathi's warfront."

"What?" Anduin blinked more confused than ever. "Why?"

"Well, while you worry about those things, there are others that have more priority. The Zandalari fleet is a big problem and, while you were distracted, they have wiped out several ships in our fleet, among others..."

"What others?"

"Transport, some from island expeditions, others full of civilians... We're at war in case you have forgotten, and they don't forget. I cannot dispense good sailors, I need them at sea fighting the Zandalari and protecting our borders. You can consider it part of a punishment for doing crazy things, if you want." Jaina added an almost sarcastic tone when pronouncing the last sentence.

"Don't treat me like a little kid..."

"I'll treat you the same way you behave."

"I'm very sorry about the ships, it wasn't my intention and I understand that you want to reinforce that part. But N’Zoth… You didn't see what he did to Taelia and Leo, you didn't see the thing that he has in Nazmir and we still don't know what he has really waiting for us. I can't risk it, not with an old god, much less when we're in crisis."

"Do you think I'm not worried about N’Zoth?" Jaina got up and stood in front of Anduin, staring at him. "Of course it's important, but I can't cope with everything. Aid in Arathi, assault Nazmir for G'huun, search for N'Zoth to kill him, protect the fleet by sea against the Zandalari, make the Horde pay for their crimes... I cannot divide troops."

"I get it, I'm not questioning you. But it's the attitude that doesn't convince me, especially with you nowadays. What happened to you?" Jaina frowned slightly confused. "After everything that happened and the time that has passed I thought... that it was you again. Even when meeting again you seemed more relaxed but... I don't know what happens to you now with the Horde. You're very... aggressive..."

"Oh... Anduin... Sweet summer child." Jaina shook her head. "I didn't forget anything, everything they did to me is still there, without being able to shout it, without being able to eliminate it. Do you think I have slept well since then? No, I couldn't. The Horde..." Jaina reflected for a few seconds. "You can't understand it, you couldn't even imagine it. You won't be able to understand me, ever."

Jaina picked up the report and walked out the door before Anduin said anything. The young king was left blank and couldn't react. He could openly admit that Jaina was right, he had never experienced anything like that, he never lost so much and that kind of pain wasn't comparable to anything. He was able to understand the resentment she had and her desire for revenge, which she had been hiding all along. But just as Anduin imagined, now that she smelled the opportunity, Jaina doesn't want to miss it. Anduin could almost agree that she preferred to prioritize the Horde before N’Zoth.

But the problem was that Jaina was mixing her personal desires for revenge with decisions to protect her people and the Alliance and he couldn't fully accept it.

He saw what N’Zoth could do, he knew what the Void was capable of. And that was something that, like Jaina with her revenge, he couldn't forget.

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After all that talk, Anduin found Wrathion on a bench behind the Keep, in the Proudmoore Academy Square. When he saw that Wrathion wasn't doing anything in particular, he approached him showing two wooden sticks, Anduin wanted to train for a while and try to let off some steam.

They went up some stairs to the cannon statue thinking of the best place to be alone. Anduin considered that the surroundings of the labyrinth would be a good place. Going down some stairs, they entered the gardens of the Keep. Although it was a good day, there were no people now and both thanked it. After passing through a wooden arch, they turned right into a small space where they could train quietly under the shade of two trees where birds were singing. With the labyrinth leaving them a little hidden, they began to fight.

Anduin didn't move very gracefully at first, he fought in a way that anyone could tell he was upset. Normally, Anduin dodged the blows and attacked in a very predictable way, but now he stopped the blows with his 'weapon' and attacked in a more unpredictable way because he was keeping a completely indifferent or lost gaze. Wrathion asked about his talk with Jaina since he noticed Anduin’s mood. The young king slowed down and sighed before telling him what had happened. As the young king explained, he began to make very slow and gentle moves. By letting out his emotions, Anduin became predictable, but Wrathion took no advantage of it, he just listened.

"I feel like nothing I'm doing here is useful." Anduin said discouraged. "I can't count on Kul Tiras for Jaina. I never thought I would say something like this.

"I can notice your frustration." Wrathion pushed aside the young king's weak attack without any force. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes... No." he corrected. "I don't feel very well."

Wrathion sighed. Attempts to attack ceased by Anduin, he stared at the ground quite discouraged. The dragon took Anduin's arm gently to lead him to a nearby bench and sit quietly. Wrathion looked at him and gave him a calm smile.

"I think you tried to insist very soon." said the dragon. "Anger is still present in them and Jaina has probably been driven by that more than anything. You should let all of that go away."

"If it's about helping on Arathi, maybe it's the reason. But what she said regarding the Horde isn't something that happened now. I'm afraid that desire for revenge will end up consuming her..."

"Life tends to put things in their place in one way or another." Wrathion put his arm around Anduin's shoulders, he looked at him. "And if N’Zoth ends up doing something big, she will regret not paying attention to him… Although I hope that doesn't happen."

"Something big like what?"

"It's usually a very painful type of personal attack. Even if I would like Jaina to realize the threat, I wouldn't be delighted if it was in that way. N’Zoth won't be soft, he attacks where it hurts the most."

"If we avoid it better, right?"

"Everything will be alright." Wrathion rubbed Anduin's arm and smiled confidently at him. "Jaina, the help you need and fight against N’Zoth, okay?"

Anduin smiled. After that talk with Jaina, talking to Wrathion restored much of his inner peace. Of course all that could be solved, he wasn't going to give up so easily. Now that they were alone, Anduin considered telling him a certain idea he had the day before.

"There's something I would like to suggest to you."

"Shoot."

"I didn't want it to be just my decision, we are both guardians." Wrathion cocked his head, confused but somewhat expectant. "New recruits."

"Do you want to propose new recruits?" Wrathion chuckled. "That's new."

"I think you will agree with the profiles of both." Anduin smiled. "Tess and Dereck."

"I don't know why but I started to suspect it." Wrathion laughed looking away.

"Both have experience in spying, they're members of the SI:7. They're loyal, intelligent... Teamwork is already developed and they're reliable friends. I don't see much reason for them not to join."

"I'm not against it." Anduin was surprised. "The thing is that I don't know how they will take the talk of being guardians." the young king looked away towards the stairs and smiled.

"I think we'll know that soon."

Wrathion looked in the same direction as Anduin and spotted Tess walking down the stairs towards them. She seemed quite pleased and shrugged her shoulders a little as soon as she caught up with them.

"What are you doing here alone so close together?" Tess asked, causing both boys to laugh a little, however, Wrathion stretched out both arms leaving them on the back of the bench to dissimulate.

"We were talking." Anduin replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you to give great news. A guard told me you were around here." Tess lowered her voice a little and looked at Anduin. "They have their eye on you."

"I'm not surprised, what news do you have?" Tess spread her arms as if she wanted to give a surprise.

"Boo!" Anduin and Wrathion looked back as soon as they noticed a presence. Anduin got up in surprise.

"Dereck! You have returned safe and sound!" Anduin gave him a small friendly hug.

"That's right, although the credit goes to Mathias. He should be called the god of caution."

"When did you come back?" Wrathion asked.

"A few minutes ago, and I brought news."

The four of them sat on the bench. Dereck pulled out a somewhat crumpled paper to show it. It was a map of Nazmir, but much better detailed and clean than the doodles they had used the days before. Dereck explained that they infiltrated a Horde camp overnight and robbed it among other things. Being more defined, they could see much better the rivers, the slopes and even the structures. Some blood troll camps locations were marked everywhere, some of them crossed out.

"This blue cross here," Dereck pointed to the cross in an area to the east where the rivers met. "is where we slept when we got there, where the dwarves hid. I suggested using it as a main operating camp upon arrival and it served as such. This red cross near us," Dereck pointed to the red cross a little east of the camp on a piece of land surrounded by water. "indicates a Horde camp, is the one we investigated."

"Is near." Anduin commented, worried. "Wasn't it an inconvenience?"

"For the time we were there, no. Now, the entire east side is ravaged by the Horde. The blood trolls had to withdraw to the Heart of Darkness. In the south there are still camps, especially southwest. The northern part is quite clear especially in the northeast, in the northwest is the temple of the Death Loa so it's not as if they're going there." Dereck explained it while pointing things on the map.

"It was chaotic when we left, how can they be like this now?"

"The Horde is demolishing them. They took the blood gate and now they transport machinery there. They are determined to kill Zul and avenge Rastakhan."

"What I thought." Wrathion murmured. "G’huun doesn't leave Uldir because the Horde has complicated it."

"We stole missives with the movements they made. They know of Uldir's existence and plan a final attack to kill Zul, but I think they know nothing about G’huun. In their reports, they mentioned it as something the blood trolls said when they rambled, but they don't think it's anything other than... Elune, for example, they don't think it's a physical deity. I would show you the papers so you could see that it's true, but Mathias has them."

"I trust what you say, I believe you. “said Anduin” Also... There's something I would like to say..." Anduin looked at Wrathion waiting for him to say something first, but the dragon giggled.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Because you're part of this too?"

"The idea was yours and I said yes, you speak." Anduin was sure he was doing it for fun.

"What are you both up to now?" Tess asked, smiling.

"How do I explain it... Wrathion and I talk about the situation we're in nowadays. Trying to talk about really important things with others is like trying to talk to a wall, few listen and N’Zoth freely goes his way. So we decided to give ourselves a little more freedom, outside of the Alliance."

"What do you mean 'outside the Alliance'?" Tess frowned.

"Being the new guardians of Azeroth, being more than just a faction, especially when the Alliance or Horde doesn't care that the planet is dying."

"I don't think I'm following you..." Dereck said. Anduin didn't know how to continue and turned to Wrathion waiting for help, the dragon sighed.

"We're the same as always," added Wrathion. "but we aren't going to be restricted by a faction. The mission is to save the world by doing what must be done. We'll tell each other the secrets only to us, and I say that because these kinds of secrets are usually about who helps us or who we're using."

"You mean you used us by inviting us to Nazmir?" Tess asked with a smile.

"Yes." Tess laughed lightly.

"You don’t hold back at all, huh?"

"It's not so exaggerated either." Anduin looked at Wrathion frowning. "Wrathion likes to make everything sound dramatic."

"I told you to speak, light-boy." Anduin gave him a friendly little kick to the shin.

"We won't stop being from the Alliance." Anduin clarified after a silence. "Only that when it comes to count on someone or when it comes to sharing certain sensitive information, it's better that it be between us. Mutual trust is the most important thing and right now we can't trust people very much."

"All this sounds like a very beautiful dream." Tess said.

"It comes from a dream." Wrathion said smiling while staring at Anduin, the young king gave him another kick.

"But the guardians are real, If I remember correctly." Dereck thoughtfully commented.

"Most are dead," Wrathion replied. "or they just aren't anymore. I have been a guardian for a while, Anduin recently joined the cause."

"I just..." Anduin thought before speaking. "I proposed it to you because I trust you quite a lot. You have no desire for revenge, you know what is fair and what needs to be done... So..."

"I don't know." Tess murmured thoughtfully. "I'd have to think about it personally."

Dereck was thoughtful too. Anduin was somewhat relieved to see that they didn't start making fun of it as he originally thought. He had to admit that, deep down, he preferred to share everything with the three of them before anyone else, he no longer trusted some leaders as much because of their manipulated motivations for war hunger.

A robust guard of the Proudmoore house approached them and dressed with the proper emblems of being part of the elite. Anduin frowned, it was the second time today that a guard approached and was probably looking for him. He wasn't sure if Jaina wanted to talk to him again or it would be worse. The guard bowed slightly.

"King Anduin Wrynn, princess Tess Greymane, I have been asked to find you to warn you that Genn Greymane is looking for you both."

"My father?" Tess asked puzzled.

"He is waiting at the back entrance of the Keep. If you do not continue conspiring, of course, it is an emergency."

"Conspiring?" Anduin dropped raising an eyebrow. "Is that what you think we do? Conspire?"

"Many rumors have been heard in the air lately." after that confirmation, Anduin sighed as he got up.

"We better go with Genn." the young king said to Tess.

The four of them got up and headed for the stairs that led to the Keep. Anduin felt exhausted, since he returned everything had become pure chaos, sometimes he thought that he should have stayed in Nazmir. Probably several people thought that what he was doing was conspiring against the interests of others, he didn't imagine that someone could consider that. Tess lowered her voice when speaking.

"If you really want to go your own way, you should have a secret place to talk quietly without someone accusing you of conspiracy."

"It's on the list of pending issues…"

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If there was something Anduin didn't see coming, it was certainly that. It wasn't long until everyone knew the Horde's plans in Nazmir because Mathias explained everything. Now the young king had to endure how some leaders wanted to hurry up and attack the city of Dazar’alor while the Horde assaulted Uldir and he considered it a mistake. That was what N’Zoth wanted, he couldn't allow it. But on top of all that, he couldn't help but think that it was, from an objective point of view, a very cowardly attack. The Zandalaris wouldn't be able to defend their home if the Alliance attacked when their army was in Nazmir and only innocent people would be there. Although the Alliance wasn't guided by the same code of honor as the Horde, they still had a code of moral honor and decency, and that action was totally against it, they weren't supposed to be savages.  
Some argued in the past that in war everything was fair, however, that wasn't a warmongering act, it was going to be a massacre. War crimes existed for a reason, in war not everything was really fair. If you want to win something, do it on a battlefield in which you participate, don't target civilians who had nothing to do with it. That was what Anduin was taught as a child and continued to defend it.

The entire following morning passed between some tense talk and information about the city of Dazar’alor. The Kultirans had been close to the Zandalari city several times so they could provide certain indications of the harbor they had, which would be the best to attack first and start the massacre.

Anduin felt bad, nauseated and his head throbbed excessively. He didn't know if it was from stress, pressure, or something worse, but he really was about to explode at any moment.  
Genn announced to Anduin that there would be a final meeting in the afternoon for this topic, but this time only important leaders or listeners within the Alliance would attend, so this time he wouldn't count on Wrathion to help him, something that he didn't want. The dragon told him that he would spend the afternoon in the place where they trained to wait in the company of animals, he would join them at dinner time.  
Tess accompanied both kings to the meeting as an important listener. She was also nervous, in those days she had heard unpleasant things from the leaders and she began to fear the worst.

That big room where they met was baptized as a 'meeting room' after all the talks, and originally was only a room for large dinners. Anduin sat next to Genn and rested his head on his hands feeling exhausted, he didn't want to be there and argue again about the same thing as always.

Gradually, the chairs began to occupy. Some important listeners were Mathias, Malfurion or Katherine. From the council of the Three Hammers only Falstad could attend since Moira left for Arathi in the morning and Muradin was still in Stormwind. Jaina didn't stop chatting almost in whispers with Turalyon all the time until Velen arrived and the door closed to begin.

"I think you have all been informed about the Horde." Jaina began. "After a successful incursion in Nazmir, missives of the movements of the Horde and the Zandalaris were stolen. They plan to attack Uldir and end Zul's life for revenge. This not only solves our problem with blood trolls, it also opens a door to deal a hard blow to the Zandalari empire if we do it right."

"You want to propose attacking Dazar’alor, I imagine." Velen assumed.

"Correct, most of you are aware of the attacks of the Zandalari fleet on our borders and how many Alliance ships have sunk. It is time to take action, we cannot continue to allow this."

"Dazar’alor…" Anduin murmured. "Do you want to attack Dazar’alor while the army is distracted in Uldir avenging their fallen king?"

"Exactly that."

"Yeah, and haven't you realized that you won't get anything?"

"Anduin," Turalyon called. "let's not start with that..."

"No." Jaina interrupted. "Let him speak."

"Nobody realizes that we will attack nothing?" After Anduin's question, there was silence. "You have said it yourself, Jaina, the army will be in Uldir, not in Dazar’alor. Who do you really want to attack? Civilians?"

"Whoever is there, preferably their fleet." Anduin looked at Jaina confused.

"But are you aware that you will only kill civilians?"

"That’s nothing compared to the civilians slain by the Horde or Zandalaris throughout their existence." Turalyon said. Anduin felt his head throb.

"How can you propose a slaughter and remain so calm? Wait, even better, when the others come back from Uldir and find all that, do you think they will sit and cry for the dead? No, of course they will not, they will come after us more angry than ever. We only give them reason to hate us."

"If we storm the city well I am not too worried, they will not be able to respond." Jaina replied calmly.

"And where's the line?" Anduin asked angrily, Jaina frowned.

"What line?"

"Of decency!" Jaina raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Anduin, there is no room for that in this war, the Horde signed it as soon as Teldrassil was burned."

"Have you forgotten what they did?" asked Alleria.

"I don't forget anything." Anduin replied. "But we are not them."

"The truth," said Genn. "I would not like to act like the Horde, we are not part of them for a reason..."

"That we do not commit war crimes." Anduin added. "We should not discuss this."

"We cannot have moral debates now," said Turalyon. "the world no longer works like this. They are a threat, and the threats should be removed. Most of us have talked about this already, knowing what is out there. I don't see any other way out and everyone understands it."

"Just because some do not speak does not mean they agree." Anduin countered. "And just because it is the city of the Zandalaris and they are in the Horde now does not mean that we can slaughter civilians. They are innocent! We have to find another way, we should discuss it."

"No, no," Alleria interrupted. "what we need is to be safe."

"Think of all the people in the Alliance!" Anduin raised his voice. "Think about the message we are sending. 'Whether innocent or not, just shoot.' We have to discuss it!"

"Alright." Jaina said. "Speak then." Anduin got up from the chair addressing everyone.

"We are not savages, we have the option of conserving our decency no matter in which war we are against the Horde or against an old god. We cannot do massacres in the name of the Alliance just because some want to."

"A key difference between us and the Horde is who rules." Tyrande pointed out. "There everyone does what the Warchief says, but here we all have a voice."

"Are you proposing a vote?" Velen asked, the elf nodded.

"Seems right." Jaina said, nodding followed by others. "Does anyone want to give any other opinion?"

"From my point of view," Turalyon started. "there is only one way to go forward, eliminating problems. If we wipe out the harbor and the fleet, we may not eliminate the entire Horde, but we do remove a significant part of it. We may even forget about them for a while."

"As we said with Arathi." Added Alleria. "Taking small steps is a way of moving forward. They are not part of us, they never will be and we have already lost many people."

"So the solution is to kill innocent civilians to prevent something that they may never try?" asked Anduin. "If we do that, we are saying that we are ready to abandon our decency for revenge, that we are partially dead."

"We have already talked about this all day." Jaina said, tiredly. "Spinning around without stopping. Do you want us to return to the same conclusions over and over again without moving forward?"

"They are innocent lives! And that's worth more than a five minutes talk! Is this what we have come to? Genocide because we don't know what to do? Most of you were saved in one way or another and given an opportunity, no matter how dangerous or treacherous you might be, and now look at us." there was a deathly silence in the room and Anduin sighed tiredly. "How can we believe that we are better than them? Where is our decency? There is a line that separates humanity from monsters, a damn line that we should never consider crossing, never. This could be the decision that makes us cross."

"You shouldn't think that so lightly." Gelbin said. "This decision would not exist if they had not tried to kill us."

"But don't you see?" this time, Anduin's tone became almost pleading. "If we do this, what we used to be, the Alliance we knew, is lost. And this new Alliance is cruel, the law of the strongest. Please... let's just do the right thing, just that."

"And we all know what to do." Jaina said. "But if you want, we are still a democracy. We can vote whether to attack Dazar’alor or not." Anduin swallowed nervously. "Only the leaders, raise your hand if you don't want to make the attack."

Without thinking, Anduin raised his hand at once, he couldn't do such a thing in the name of the Alliance, he wouldn't be like Sylvanas when she decided to attack Teldrassil. There was another awkward silence and Anduin began to fear that no one would support him, but Genn raised his hand as well after a few seconds. The young king was so relieved to have him on his side that he had to suppress the urge to give him a hug. A few seconds later, Tyrande also raised her hand and Anduin felt a lump in his throat with emotion, an emotion that didn't last long because no one else was raising his hand.

"Nobody else?" Jaina insisted, but there was only silence. "Okay, raise your hand those who want to make the attack."

Jaina, Turalyon and Alleria raised their hands at almost the same time in favor. Anduin noticed a slight tremor in his jaw as Gelbin raised it, followed by Falstad a few seconds later somewhat hesitantly. Velen didn't vote for anything, making his vote blank. The two priests exchanged glances, in Anduin's eyes there was only pure disappointment.

"Will you be watching how they do it too?" Asked the young king. "Because not voting is as if you had voted yes. No, I think you will hide until it passes, probably many here will, trying to forget that we have massacred innocents becoming a second Horde."

"It has been democratically decided, Anduin." Jaina said. "What we had to say has already been said and we have voted yes. We will contribute to this and it is over. We take advantage of the fact that the Horde will attack Uldir and we will take a small step to victory between this attack and Arathi. If it works, we will locate N’Zoth later.

Anduin sat down again, defeated. He couldn't hear anything that was said next, the whole conversation went to the background, he could only hear his own thoughts. All of that was horrible, he wanted to cry. The way N’Zoth deceived everyone surpassed every reasoning, he could almost hear the old god laughing from his prison. But then he realized something, it wasn't his imagination, there was something laughing in his head. The same voice of the Void that forced him to kill in Nazmir was laughing at him now and spoke in a challenging way.

_You are a coward, coward, coward..._

Hearing it, Anduin couldn't take it anymore.

"We could bring the Seventh Legion fleet alongside the Kul Tiras fleet." Turalyon commented to Jaina.

"Yes, I was taking that for granted."

"No." Anduin said suddenly, capturing everyone's eyes. "No, you will not have any Stormwind unit, troops or ships. I will not be a part of this." Anduin got up and started walking towards the door with his fists clenched tightly.

"You can't be so selfish, Anduin." Jaina said angrily.

"Selfish? Yes, the selfish king leaves the door, the selfish king is gone."

"You will be king, but you are a traitor." Turalyon said. Anduin looked at him before opening the door.

"Don't talk to me about treason! I voted no and I keep it, so I'm not going to be part of that shit because it's my decision." Anduin opened the door and looked at them for the last time. "And if any of you have a minimum of decency, won't go either."

Anduin closed the door and stood in the silence of the hall. Heat began to spread across his chest intensely and he didn't know why. But before he realized, he was already running as fast as he could away from the Keep.

The sun was setting as the last light filtered through the clouds. Anduin closed his eyes every time light reached his face. He didn't know where he was running, nor why he wasn't crying when he felt like it. The heat was still there and it was becoming unbearable no matter how fast he ran for fresh air.

Anduin left Boralus after taking the west path as he used to do sometimes when he realized where he was going, his subconscious had been guiding him towards the only thing that would bring him peace.  
After a few minutes, he stood on the place where he trained the first few times in private, panting and flushed from the effort. He looked at a surprised Wrathion.

"Anduin?" asked the dragon, leaving a dog on the ground. "What are you doing here? Weren't you at the meeting?"

"I..." the young king walked towards him. "I need... I need your help, I need you."

"Sure." Anduin approached and grabbed him tightly by the shoulders. "Are you... alright?"

"Take me to Nazmir, I have to go." Wrathion looked at him confused. "Is your offer still standing that, if I asked, you would take me wherever I wanted?"

"Still standing, but what happened?" Anduin hid his face resting his forehead on the dragon's chest and tears began to slide down his cheeks.

"I would even accept to go wherever you wanted..." Anduin's voice broke and hugged Wrathion. "I just... I want to go away from here... Take me, take me wherever you want, but far from here."

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Anduin woke up when it got dark. He rubbed his right eye and stared for a few seconds at nothing. Wrathion brought him back after Anduin stopped sobbing. Although Anduin didn't offer many explanations about what happened, Wrathion suggested, knowing that it would be best, to take a nap so that the anger would pass and Anduin could calm down. Once the young king sat on the edge of the bed, he started to think about what happened. He was ashamed. He had never cried in front of someone so vulnerable before, he always hid for it, but this time he couldn't. The pressure got him after holding on for so long. But Wrathion did well to bring him back, in the end Anduin calmed down.

Still feeling sleepy, Anduin went out to eat something. He didn't meet people for his fortune, it seemed that many have already retired to sleep. In the kitchens there was a dim light coming out, but when he entered, he saw no one and was surprised. Anduin looked through the cabinets for something, but he wasn't seeing many options beyond the usual to nibble on. Then he felt something too cold touching his nape and he turned around immediately after letting out a small scream. Wrathion smiled at him as he held a visibly cold bottle of water.

"Damn..." Anduin murmured.

"That's what I should say, you didn't greet me when you entered."

"I didn't see you, don't do that again." Anduin rubbed the cold part of his nape and a small smile escaped him."

"Then don't ignore me." Wrathion filled a glass with water from the same bottle. Anduin pointed to it.

"Have you become civilized?" Anduin remembered that Wrathion never used glasses.

"It's not for me."

Wrathion pointed to the table. If he didn't see Wrathion as he entered, much less could he see Leo sitting almost hidden at the table. The little boy waved with the only available hand, he was still somewhat pale and had dark bags under his eyes, but despite that, he looked better.

"Hi." Leo greeted smiling.

"Good evening, Leo. Forgive me, I haven't seen you."

"It's okay." Wrathion gave the glass to Leo and he drank quickly. "I was saying to Wrathion that I have decided to be a Tidesage, I'll start training when my arm is well under the tutelage of the best, Pike."

"It's great." Anduin said smiling. "Surely you will be very good." Leo lowered his head a little.

"It's also because I need to distract myself... Although it won't be a good training if you don't give me Pike back."

"Give him back?" Anduin frowned. Leo looked at Wrathion.

"Haven't you told him yet?" Wrathion shook his head.

"Tell me what?" asked the young king confused.

"Well," Wrathion began the explanation. "after you started taking a long nap, I spoke to a few people. I especially asked Tess and Genn about what happened, since you didn't tell me the details, and we chatted about everything we should do. We talk to Mathias first."

"Mathias?"

"He’s sorry, he thinks he should have told everything first to you." Anduin looked away, it wasn't as if he blamed the master of spies for telling the others first and, in any case, everyone would have heard about the situation anyway and would have proposed the same thing. "So after talking to Mathias, he went to talk to Cyrus and got us a couple of ships. Leo will give us Pike to navigate more easily, that's what we were talking about now."

"Yes," said Leo. "it's also because I'm indebted to you and I wanted to contribute to this cause."

"Wait," Anduin shook his head. "I don't get it, I'm lost."

"You don't understand?" Wrathion smiled slightly. "Start packing, we're going on a trip to Nazmir to kill G’huun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you want to be a decent human being but others want to force you to be a murderer... Poor Anduin, at least Wrathion is a good boyfriend.  
See you in the next chapter !!


	25. Assault to Uldir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I was somewhat disconnected this week (in wow it was that quest about doing 4 mythic dung and well, I spent a lot of hours there) but I already bring another chapter to entertain in this quarantine. It was also hard to translate this one, that's why it took a bit more, sorry for mistakes anyway. Enjoy!

If N’Zoth's plan was to cause divisions inside the Alliance, he was doing it very well. That was the conclusion Wrathion came to once he found out about what happened. He always thought that, even though both factions had destruction tendencies in some way or another, the Alliance used to be more intelligent. But now it was the most vengeful and blind faction, and those were N'Zoth's favorite traits when it comes to manipulation.  
It was quite clear to him that the most influenced person was Jaina. After thinking carefully, it wasn't something that surprised him. For years Jaina had a strong resentment against the Horde, it must have been very easy to manipulate her the moment she touched the Azerite.  
Fortunately, there were people who weren't easily fooled in the Alliance and wouldn't give in, Anduin was the main person to trust. Wrathion would do everything possible so that Anduin didn't despair and fell into N'Zoth's game. For that reason, as soon as he brought him back to Boralus, Wrathion moved. They should go to Uldir.  
Tess offered more help than anyone. Thanks to her, Wrathion was able to convince and fix everything with Genn and Mathias. The old wolf would get Tyrande's support for the assault and Mathias quickly got the transport.

They decided to embark in the middle of the night to avoid the Horde and the Alliance. After Anduin understood that they were going, they had to prepare to leave immediately. The two ships waited at the Mariner’s Row for security. They just had to wait for Pike.

Putting on his armor and weapons, Anduin quickly prepared himself and came out almost on the sly. Tess waited for him in the back of the Proudmoore Keep to guide him.

"Thanks for not supporting the Dazar’alor thing." Anduin said as they walked fast.

"Fuck Dazar’alor, I didn't sign for that shit." Tess said with some disgust. "I have seen places besieged with innocents and it's a cruel view, I won't be part of that. Also, I saw what's in Nazmir, I’ll follow you."

"Did Wrathion really convince everyone?" Anduin asked with some enthusiasm.

"He talked to me and my father first, from there it was a domino effect. He had talks with some people and started the plan, everything went well. The only thing he didn't do was talk to Tyrande, that's what my father takes care of."

"Is Tyrande truly coming?"

"I don't know, now they will tell us. She voted against it so maybe."

Anduin had trouble imagining it, it was too pretty. He was very grateful for everything, especially with Wrathion. If Wrathion hadn't been there, Anduin wasn't sure what would have happened or if he'd had the courage to say no to others. It didn't take long to get to the place. There weren't many people, some Stormwind soldiers here, some Gilneans talking, and some Kaldorei there. He saw that Tyrande was on the deck of a ship talking to Shandris and he couldn't help but smile, she was going to lend him support after all. They quickly sighted Genn talking to Mathias. Anduin approached them looking at Genn. When the old wolf noticed him, he made a gesture of relief.

"You took your time," Genn joked. "and I thought Tyrande made me wait." without answering, Anduin gave him a hug. Genn was a little surprised, but returned the hug.

"Thanks, Genn."

"Stop tugging my heartstrings..." Anduin separated to smile at him.

"Your Majesty..." Mathias called. The spymaster looked at his king with some guilt and knelt down. "I'm so sorry, I should have told you first, sorry."

"Rise, Mathias." Anduin said calmly. "There’s nothing to forgive, it's normal that you explain it if leaders of the Alliance ask you."

"But I should only answer to you. The SI:7 is from Stormwind, you go before anyone else, that's why..."

"It's okay," Anduin bent down to his height. "it's okay."

They both got up and even though Mathias looked calmer, he still had traces of guilt on his face. But Anduin forgave him for his actions.

"One question, can we ‘take’ a souvenir from Uldir?" someone asked behind his back. Anduin turned around and saw Taelia next to the person who spoke, it was the same person Taelia used to work with.

"For the last time," said Mathias, tired. "it is a neutralization mission, not an excursion, Fairw-

"Flynn, call me Flynn." Flynn took a few steps towards Mathias. "And I understand that it's a mission to kill a giant bug, but we're talking about an installation of the Titans, there should be incredible treasures when Azeroth was only Kalimdor."

"You are no longer a pirate." Flynn, as if they were best friends, put his hand on Mathias's shoulder.

"Don't worry, appreciating a treasure isn’t a pirate thing, collectors like me also look for these things, relax!"

Mathias was frowning annoyed, he didn't like that Flynn acted as if they were best friends or his carefree attitude. He looked at Anduin for help, but the young king found it amusing that someone like that was by his side and said nothing. Instead, he approached Taelia.

"Are you coming?" asked curious, Taelia smiled.

"You need two people to maneuver both ships, me and Flynn volunteered."

"Thank you." Taelia looked behind Anduin.

"Wow, it was about time."

Anduin looked back, Wrathion and Pike came at last. With them here, they had to leave. Apparently Pike had fallen asleep since they didn't tell him that they would be leaving at night, but everyone took his delay as a joke. Wrathion looked at Anduin, who smiled at him in relief.

"I've discovered someone who has a deeper sleep than you." the dragon joked.

Anduin chuckled at the comment as he put his arm around the dragon's shoulders and they embarked. Most of the troops that accompanied them went to the ship led by Flynn, in the other ship the leaders would meet to polish the incursion that they would make. Once everyone was on board, Pike used his magic. Anduin had never seen the Tidesage power in action until now. As soon as the sails were deployed, Pike made a draft for both ships to leave Boralus fast. The waters were also influenced as soon as he began to control the currents of the sea favorably. It was as if they were using one of the transports made by gnomes, like the tram that connected Stormwind to Ironforge.

The leaders gathered in the captain's cabin to speak. Tess, Dereck, Mathias and Shandris didn't have real authority, but they stayed to hear.

"If you're here," Wrathion began. "I assume that you prioritize N’Zoth above other interests and that you want to contribute." most of them nodded. "If you want to do it, then there's something you should know."

"There are rules?" Genn asked sarcastically.

"Only one, if you want to play N’Zoth's game there's only one thing to remember." Wrathion took a few seconds of silence. "Whatever happens, or if he tells you something, never listen to him, even if he's telling you the truth."

"That's a little strange." Tess said.

"Not really, if he's telling you the truth it's because he has some beneficial intention for him. Usually because N'Zoth wants to cause divisions or to demoralize someone, so don't listen to anything. You just have to remember that, the rest is improvising."

"That's N’Zoth." Tyrande said. "What do we do with G’huun?"

"We have to infiltrate Uldir, that's why I told you that it wasn't necessary to bring an army, with a good group it's more than enough. Mathias, did you bring the papers?"

"Yes." Mathias fumbled in his pocket and took the stolen missives from the Horde. Wrathion read them quickly several times to be sure. "They will attack soon, but I don't know what kind of infiltration you want to do in a small place where we will be surrounded by enemies."

"I intend to use the Horde." Anduin looked at him with a frown.

"Do we really have to get the Horde into our plan?" Anduin's tone was a bit tired and Wrathion thought that maybe he was thinking about the last meeting.

"Would you feel less bad if you only use them?" Wrathion raised his hand. "We won't kill anyone except blood trolls and G’huun. I just want to take advantage of the Horde because they want to kill Zul, just that." Anduin nodded after a few seconds.

"Okay, we'll do it like this."

"And how do we infiltrate such a place?" Genn wanted to know.

"I thought about entering through the Underrot, it was an old place full of dust, so surely they don't usually use it. Once there we will have to be patient."

"What we shouldn't do is enter Nazmir by the usual river." Dereck pointed out. "The eastern part is controlled by the Horde, we cannot go there."

"Correct," Mathias affirmed. "we have to go to the north. Map." Dereck rummaged in one of his small waist bags and pulled out the Nazmir map. Mathias spread it out on the table and pointed to the north. "Here, near the Bwonsamdi's temple, that area is empty."

"When we went to Nazmir the first time," said Tess. "we spent the second night in this area here, remember?" Tess pointed west of the Heart of Darkness. "It was a good place to have a temporary camp, maybe we should go there when we arrive, and from there improvise."

"It doesn't sound like a bad plan." Wrathion admitted. "All the trolls are in the Heart of Darkness but... The most likely thing is that the Horde will end up exterminating them, they have enough tools."

"They say it in the papers," said Mathias. "that 'Zul is finished and has no escape, it will end in a couple of nights' and that they have enough artillery to explode Uldir if they feel like it. Which means that G’huun will be only for us, unless you prefer to attract them to G’huun."

"No." Wrathion refused. "They can't go after him, that will be our own business. No one can see us on this mission. We'll wait for them to take care of their affairs first and then we'll come in. Take five cups of coffee if you people need it, it will be a long night. When we arrive and see the situation we will talk more."

"Well," Tess clapped her hands. "who wants coffee?"

Most of them moved outside to prepare for the long night. Anduin, Wrathion, Tyrande and Shandris stayed and the young king took the opportunity to thank the priestess for supporting him in this mission instead of massacring people in Dazar’alor. Tyrande made it clear that she was much more concerned about this, and that retaliating against the Horde now was a dead end if resources were scarce. She admitted that Anduin was right about the things he said and that she especially agreed that, if the Horde came back and saw such a massacre, they would only enrage them more and the Alliance didn't have enough means to defend themselves, it was much better this way.

Once the elves left, Anduin and Wrathion were left alone. Anduin stared at him as the dragon continued to read the Horde papers. There was something going through his head the whole time, he had to thank Wrathion for what he did for him. If Anduin thought about it carefully, it was as if the dragon had saved his life in a way. Anduin had been so helpless and frustrated when the leaders decided to attack Dazar’alor that he was about to abandon everything, but Wrathion took him out of that to continue fighting. There was also the thing that the young king only allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of him for some reason.

"Wrathion..." the dragon looked at him. "I... I want to thank you." Wrathion cocked his head a little. "For everything, absolutely everything, and for bearing with me. To be honest, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You're a guardian, right? We said that we would help each other, although for me it was more personal."

"I know, but... Light, I must look like an idiot. There’s an old god that threatens our planet and I was there telling my personal sorrows, as if that was important in comparison. I'm sorry you had to bear with me for a while. By the Light... I even cried!" Anduin ducked his head. "I feel... so stupid."

"Don't downplay your problems just because there are others that seem worse. If something hurts, don't ignore it, try to fix it."

"I suppose, but…" Wrathion lifted Anduin's chin with one hand.

"If you want to scream about something, you can do it, and if you want to cry, do it too. It's not healthy for you to repress your feelings by making a ball of it because, later, when things happen, you will simply explode. I'm not going to judge you for that, I don't think you're weak or stupid for having feelings, actually, I would recommend you let these frustrations came out instead of keeping them." Anduin took a long, deep breath. Sometimes he has a hard time saying what he felt, but Wrathion was right.

"Thanks for listening." Anduin smiled at him.

"Come on, let's get rid of an infection."

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Nazmir didn't change at all. The gloomy atmosphere and the smell of the dead intensified much more now that the Horde began its attack. They docked near the Bwonsamdi's temple without problems, Pike, Taelia and Flynn would stay protecting the ships with some humans and worgen. The others began to walk south looking at the map, the goal was to get to the place where Tess pointed.

They didn't find anyone on the way, but they did hear some noises in the distance, sometimes even the occasional cannon shot. The Horde was certainly doing well with the siege, the ground shake sometimes for seconds.

Before reaching the checkpoint, they ran into a troll camp. It wasn't too big, but they could count a couple of dozen warrior blood trolls and a few priestesses ready to go out and fight. They all came to a conclusion pretty quickly, the fewer trolls, the better. Tyrande suggested surrounding the camp so they wouldn't leave any escape route and everyone accepted. The elves were the first to move. With all the stealth and agility of a nightsaber, they slowly surrounded the camp. The rest would wait hiding for the signal. Once they were positioned, Shandris mimicked an owl and Tyrande replied, all the Kaldorei stretched their bows. After a whistle, a small rain of arrows fell on the camp. Many blood trolls fell and others were injured. Once the first round of arrows was launched, all the others attacked. They caught them completely off guard, the trolls didn't react in time to the charge and a few fell again. They all fought to their best abilities while taking the camp fast. Some trolls attempted to escape by mounting their leeches, but the elves, with an arrow, ensured that no one left the perimeter alive.

Anduin could tell perfectly that the trolls were nervous and bewildered as soon as he attacked and began to feel sorry for them. They were being attacked from all sides, and although they were dangerous enemies, he wished there was another way. After dispatching a young looking blood troll, Anduin saw a troll spur his mount to charge against him. The young king awkwardly backed away from the first charge, but with a quick turn of the reins, the troll quickly got into position to strike again as he raised the spear. Anduin considered turning away and slicing through the beast's legs to knock him down, but before anything happened, Genn, in his worgen form, leaped up and pushed the troll to the ground. They both fell and Genn with his sharp claws tore him apart in a moment. Now that the young king realized, it was the worgen who were doing all the work, the beast they carried inside had gone too long without hunting anything, and now they seemed even happy.

The last remaining blood troll tried to run away, but Tess shot him down with an arrow from the small crossbow on her arm.

"That was the last one." she assured.

"It was definitely the last." Tyrande confirmed once she joined them.

"Any wounded?" Anduin asked.

"A few," replied Mathias. "nothing serious, fortunately."

"It was a very clean hunt." Genn said as he returned to his human form.

Anduin looked at everyone as he visualized the wounded. As Mathias said, they weren't serious injuries, some cuts and some with lack of blood due to the magic that the priestesses used. He was so distracted that he hardly noticed that something was touching his ankle, but when he realized it, he looked down. It was one of those creatures that the blood trolls use as mounts, but it was a baby. It was lovingly butting Anduin's leg trying to get attention, probably looking for some caress. As soon as they exchanged glances, Anduin realized that this little creature had the brightest black eyes he had ever seen. Without hesitating, he picked it up and looked at Genn, the old wolf just frowned.

"What is that?"

"It's a baby of the mounts that the blood trolls use, but I think it became an orphan now." Anduin looked at him excitedly. "Can we keep it?"

"What?"

"Yes, we can adopt it, we will raise it and will accompany us. We can call it Spud.

"Leave that where you found it."

Anduin grabbed it a little tighter, its eyes were too adorable to be left there. Also, without someone to take care of it, it would probably die. He turned around and went to Wrathion.

"Wrathion, Wrathion, can we take it?" the dragon looked at the creature and frowned.

"Why do you want it?"

"It's adorable, and will be on our side if we raise it, I name it Spud." Wrathion raised an eyebrow and Anduin interpreted it as if he were wondering the reason for that name. "Because it's round." Wrathion sighed smiling.

"And then what? Will you call a dog 'woof'?" asked sarcastic thinking that Anduin was bad at naming things.

"But we cou-"

"It can't come to Uldir."

Anduin frowned, it was true that he couldn't bring it to Uldir, but he didn't want to leave it either. As soon as they began to mobilize, Anduin had to put it on the ground, however, the creature began to follow him like a dog. It took them a few minutes to get to the place, it didn't seem like there was any movement there, the four rock walls were still making a protective square.

Once they settled, Anduin and another healer were in charge of taking care of the wounded quickly and giving some food to those who lost blood. They had to get closer to the Heart of Darkness and see what was happening.

"I'll take a look." Wrathion said. "I'm fast and they won't see me."

"Are you sure?" Mathias asked. "Here some know invisibility and camouflage techniques, they can go with you."

"I prefer that you watch and take care of the wounded, it won't take me long."

"Be careful." Anduin said from a distance.

Wrathion said goodbye and disappeared into the trees. Everyone waited very alert at first, but the more minutes passed, the more bored they felt. Anduin ended up playing with Spud with a stick. It started to rain and some put on the hood or took shelter under a tree.

Wrathion was starting to take too long to come back and some got nervous, but it was better if they didn't move. Anduin saw that Tyrande was vigilant, but she was touching her head wound. He decided to approach to ask since they had not talked about it for a long time.

"Tyrande?" the elf turned her head slightly when Anduin reached her. "Are you okay? It hurts?"

"I'm fine, it stopped hurting, it's just I got used to doing this..." there was a long silence while they heard the drops fall. "This place is..."

"Yes?"

"Very old, it was a forest but... now it is very neglected, forgotten... It was a home, we are standing on the ruins, it is sad..."

"It may have been G’huun's fault."

"It may... It's funny that although I gave myself as a priestess of Elune I can still have the connection with nature, it is not as much as my husband, but I can still feel it."

"You are Kaldorei, you will always have that connection for what you are. I would like to have it too, nature always surrounds us so it must be magnificent." Tyrande looked at him askance.

"You have a connection with the Light that I will never have, it is a fantastic thing too."

"That's quite great too."

Something moved in the brush in front of them and Tyrande instantly charged her bow. A blood troll shot out somewhat tired and stopped when he saw them. He was unarmed and carrying a small bag, he was totally baffled, but before he made a move, Tyrande pierced his heart with an arrow. They both looked at each other somewhat confused, this was an unusual behavior when another blood troll ran out of the brush a couple of meters from them, as if running away from something. Before Tyrande reloaded the bow, a dagger struck the troll's back and knocked him down. Wrathion appeared then, picking up his dagger as he noticed the others. The dragon walked quickly towards them.

"We have to talk."

As soon as he said that, the three of them joined the rest. The others went from being bored to pay attention as soon as they saw Wrathion. Before saying anything, the dragon shook his head to remove the drops of rain and ran his hands over his face.

"Okay, a couple of things." Wrathion began. "First, the Horde is in Uldir, they have started their assault and the entire Heart of Darkness area is quite empty, so it will be easy to enter through the Underrot. Second, the blood trolls are making an exodus."

"Exodus?" Genn asked.

"Yes, the Horde massacres them so the survival instinct pushes them to flee, probably to Vol’dun, until everything ends. Their customs have to prevail, that's what they think. That's why we just killed two."

"We can't let a single one escape." Tyrande said. "If someone survives, sadistic customs will never disappear, they must be eliminated."

"Then are we going to erase the blood trolls from Azeroth?" Anduin asked.

"It's for the best." Wrathion said. "They do no good, neither their lifestyle nor who they worship. Because of them, G’huun gained influence, they must be eliminated. Although if it's not us, the Horde will." Anduin was thoughtful. Exterminating a race forever wasn't something he had in mind and although they were blood trolls, he wasn't convinced, but he recognized that they had some points. He heard an arrow fly behind him and saw that Shandris had shot another fleeing blood troll.

"I think we should split up." Shandris suggested. "We have to stop the ones who are fleeing."

"Split up?" Wrathion thought about it. "It's a good idea, so we deal with two problems."

"We stay." Tyrande offered. "We will take care of the perimeter and annihilate whoever tries to flee."

"I suggest you take all the soldiers, it's better if a small group goes to Uldir. We’re leaving now." Anduin looked at the Stormwind soldiers.

"Tyrande will be in command now, do whatever she says, understood?" they all agreed. Anduin looked at Tyrande. "Do what you think is convenient. May the Light protect you."

"May Elune guide your path, Anduin."

Wrathion chose the group, Anduin, Genn, Tess, Dereck, Mathias and two worgen would go. Genn also told the rest of his people to stay under Tyrande's command. Anduin said goodbye to Spud and told it to wait, the creature somehow listened to him. They quickly left the others behind and approached the western ramp of the Heart of Darkness. They encountered other blood trolls along the way, but were easily eliminated. They reached the base of the place and tried to locate the ramp that led to the Underrot. As Wrathion said, it was quite empty, the earth was removed by the machines carried by the Horde, but there was no sign of them anywhere, that meant they were inside Uldir. Once they saw the pit they were looking for, they hurried down the ramp and entered the Underrot with the characteristic smell of the dead, everyone put a hand on their noses as they moved.

The Underrot was more empty than the last time, all the corpses were removed. Anduin was surprised not to see anyone, he thought he would find blood trolls fleeing through the Underrot.

Last time, when they got to the hole where they found the infection, the smell was too much, but now that they were there, it wasn't so over the top, as if it had been cleaned.

Since they didn't have the Keeper, they had to go down using their hands. Mathias and Tess were cautious and had ropes to descend. Wrathion didn't need it and he was sliding down the wall, jumping from one side to the other. After helping each other, they managed to get down the huge drop and Wrathion began to touch the console to open the door. Anduin realized that Herzel was still there, but it didn't have a drop of energy, it looked like a fallen statue. Tess was the last to come down when Wrathion opened the door and the sound of a big battle came from Uldir. Wrathion adjusted the door to leave it half open in case they had to run away. They had to be careful and stealthy. They went through the door and stayed in the small room before the long hallway. Wrathion suggested that it would be best to wait and check Uldir's condition from time to time, only to take action once the Horde finished its objectives and left. Mathias volunteered for such a thing, with his ability for stealth, he would cross the hall to observe the situation. They only had to pray that they wouldn't be discovered.

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Luck smiled at them in unexpected ways at last. Anduin was sure that someone would approach where they were hiding, but surprisingly, they went unnoticed. The young king knew that no one used to pass by, as indicated by the dust, but he considered that the blood trolls would take that escape. Although he also realized that perhaps the door couldn't be opened from this side, that is why no one passed by.

According to Mathias, the Horde killed Zul. There was a lot of noise for over an hour, and when the entire battle ended, Mathias returned to report that Talanji herself took revenge by piercing Zul's chest with a spear. That was the reason why everything was going silent, the Horde was leaving Uldir. Wrathion also began to peek inside Uldir. As soon as he was sure, the dragon gave them a signal to move forward. After crossing the hall, they found Uldir littered with corpses. The Horde didn't hold back at all, the place looked like a graveyard of blood trolls, and Zul was lifeless in the center of Uldir.

Then Anduin began to feel bad. At first it was a little tingling in his head and he felt a stab of pain in his stomach, but then it intensified. He didn't quite understand why, it was as if his own body could sense that there was something in the place that was wrong.

"Where is this G’huun supposed to be?" Genn asked quietly.

"Close, I can smell it close." Wrathion replied. "But there is another matter that is intriguing me more."

"Which is?"

"I haven't seen Zek’voz or Mythrax in all this time."

Anduin hadn't realized that detail until Wrathion said so. He saw Mythrax and Zek'voz once, but they both disappeared and he didn't think it was because the Horde eliminated them, something was wrong. Since Uldir was circular, Wrathion suggested taking a tour through the wings and seeing if there was any path leading to an underground level.

The first wing they entered used to be the burrowing of some kind of animal. It had three heads like some hydras, but they were the heads of a lion, a gryphon, and the other was so disfigured that it looked just like a skull. The body was full of white pustules and had horse and lion legs, it seemed that someone tried to make a puzzle placing random animal pieces.

The second wing wasn't much better, instead of the thousand pustules everywhere as in the other, this one was red because of all the blood spilled. There was something very much like a huge red leech with two arms lying on the ground next to some blood sha. Of course the Horde had fun.

Hoping to find something in the last one, they were confused to see nothing. They also hoped to find some way that led underground, but again it was another dead end. The wing was cleaner and there were four huge metal discs with some symbols on them that occupied the sides. They were preparing to turn around and check the entire place again, but Wrathion remained still.

"The discs..." Wrathion scratched his chin. "Titans usually write their notes on this type of discs, maybe it says where G’huun is or what happened years ago."

Wrathion ran to inspect them closely followed by Anduin, both were curious. The others stayed close to wait. They saw a console in the back of the room, but when they looked closely, they saw that it worked using a mechanism that wasn't there, so Wrathion tried to read it directly. The record was huge and Wrathion was trying very hard to spin it to see what it said, but he was having a hard time reading because it was written in a special way.

"Can you read something?" Anduin asked.

"I try. It says many intertwined things... I wish the mechanism that would allow me to read it better hadn't been lost. There are many written names and broken letters and it seems to me that I have seen the name G’huun but…"

Anduin heard something this time. It wasn't a word in some language, it was a little laugh. The young king looked back because he was sure he heard it right behind him, but there was no one else besides them and he didn't think anyone could laugh like that either. But this time he could see something in the air. It was as if a big waterfall of ants fell a few meters from him, he was sure that there was something with them. Anduin shook Wrathion's shoulder lightly without stopping to look at the waterfall and the dragon looked at him. Seeing that Anduin was staring at something, he turned around too, but couldn't see anything.

"Did you hear voices?" Wrathion asked.

"No," Anduin looked at him. "but I heard a laugh. And there's something right in front of us."

Wrathion frowned and looked again, Anduin could see that he was trying to catch the smell, but he was having trouble detecting something. The ants moved, becoming the figure of a paw, it was when Wrathion realized what was there, ready to attack. Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the arm to push him away in time and away, something fell where they were when suddenly a part of the ground cracked. All the others looked alarmed and confused at the place when a strange figure began to materialize in front of them. Gradually, a large red creature began to take the place. Anduin recognized it, Zek’voz finally appeared, it had been hidden with its Void powers. Zek’voz looked at everyone and made strange noises, as if trying to speak. After a silence, it looked at Anduin.

_You can hear me._

"Huh?" Anduin was surprised, was Zek'voz trying to communicate with him?

"Anduin," Wrathion called, shaking his head. "don't listen to him." Wrathion took a few steps towards Zek’voz while he unsheathed his weapon. "_I already thought that za oou kwa’huji._" Zek’voz looked at Wrathion.

_"Every time I understand arw’ki N’Zoth lal marwol, zaix za’ki agth when you mah it."_

_"Always ready sk’zyqtahg."_

Anduin thought he might go mad hearing things halfway, and he didn't understand why Wrathion started talking to it.

"Hey," Genn called to Wrathion. "if you've finished talking, how do we kill that?" Zek’voz dug its paws into the ground and seemed to channel something.

"Ah, don't get into the energies of the Void and behind that shell is the brain, it's his weak point so you have to reach it, it will be easy. Watch out for the powers of the Void."

As soon as that was said, much of the ground began to be covered in black and purple. Zek’voz used his power to create a small circle of shadows and leave them trapped. The four discs began to spin rapidly on Zek’voz's orders and some strange insects appeared. Wrathion looked at Zek'voz in surprise, the key to read the discs was in its possession. Wrathion jumped on top of Zek’voz and plunged his weapon in the shell. Zek’voz backed away because of the pain and tried to push Wrathion off without much success, but understood what the dragon was up to, Zek'voz quickly turned its back to the shadows. The insects attacked the others, although they were fast, they weren't too much of a problem and it was entirely Genn who was taking care of them. One of the worgen, however, misstep. A couple of insects threw themselves on top of him and as he tried to back away he ended up stepping on the shadows of the ground. He didn't have time to shout, the shadows enveloped him in seconds and the worgen simply disintegrated as if he had never been there.

"_Ug’crish zul thraxas_." Zek’voz shouted.

"Hey Dereck," Tess said, amazed at what she just saw. "remember that advice on what to do if you're at a disadvantage against a powerful opponent?"

"Huh?" Dereck didn't understand at first, but he soon realized. "Ah! Yeah!"

Both charged their respective crossbows on their arms and aimed at Zek’voz's eyes. They knew they hit the target when Zek’voz screamed. It was a very common advice between rogues and thieves: if you face something much stronger than you, blind it. Wrathion moved his weapon to try to turn it around and leave the brain exposed, but Zek’voz resisted. The circle of shadows began to get smaller as all the insects died. Wrathion settled more firmly on the red shell and pushed his weapon deeper as he tried to move it from right to left in an attempt to destabilize it. Genn tried to get behind Zek’voz, but the circle of shadows wouldn't let him pass. In a short time they grouped up in front of Zek’voz at the edge of the shadows with no way out.

"Guys," Anduin said. "don't try to move, I'll try something."

They all clung to Anduin confidently. The young king concentrated on the Light, he could make a shield to repel the shadows and be safe. It wasn't difficult to cover them all in a bubble of Light, as soon as the shadows touched it, they stopped advancing, they could be calm until Anduin falls exhausted. But Anduin felt bad again, the same discomfort he felt minutes before returned to him and his legs shook until he was on his knees. His hands began to ache because of the Light and Anduin began to think that he wouldn't last a minute, but he didn't give up and kept it. Wrathion slightly pulled back his weapon just to thrust it once more with all his might, went deeper than he thought, and could touch the brain. Zek’voz squirmed and finally turned around enough so that Genn and Mathias, climbing the herald's body, could catch up. With claws and daggers, they smashed Zek’voz's purple brain. The circle of shadows disappeared, and Anduin collapsed as soon as he saw that he could relax. Wrathion pulled back his weapon and leaped to stand behind Zek’voz, took a deep breath, and blow a flare that melted the brain in a minute.

"Anduin," Tess helped him to sit. "are you okay?"

"Yes... yes..." Anduin tried to breathe normally.

"Boy," Genn said, returning to his human form. "you look really bad."

"I felt bad before, but I'm fine." both Greymane helped the young king to stand again. Genn realized that Wrathion was dissecting Zek’voz.

"But what are you doing?"

"He could move the discs well, he must have the device." Wrathion rummaged through the remains until he got a golden square. "See?"

"Yes, yes, I believe you, it's disgusting."

Wrathion returned to the console at the back of the room, confident that he would now operate it. By placing the piece in the corresponding place, the discs were activated again. Anduin staggered over to Wrathion to see better.

"Can you read it this time?"

"Yes. That bastard was manipulating this from a distance to materialize things." an image appeared in front of them, as if there was a screen.

"What is that?" Wrathion laughed.

"That's Yogg-Saron, his image." Wrathion glanced at Anduin out of the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Look for something about G’huun."

Titans had their own way of doing things, or that’s what Wrathion said. Instead of writing letters on one line like all races in Azeroth, they divided the same letter, or the word, into the parts they wanted. This time, the same letter was divided into the four discs that, when turned correctly, could form legible letters or display images. It was the most practical way to protect information.

"Well," Wrathion murmured. "there's a lot of information about other life forms, but it hardly says anything about G’huun or what happened."

"How can't it say things about their own creation?" asked Mathias.

"Because Uldir is a study installation, they had to store all the things they have seen throughout their lives. Do you remember that I explained that life couldn't start in Azeroth due to corruption and the Titans had to use the blood of animals from other planets to see if it was compatible with ours? Well, all that kind of information is stored here and... Wow..."

"What?" Anduin asked, Wrathion smirked.

"Here are... fifty norgabytes of biological data on life forms they have seen in the cosmos..."

"And what does that mean, exactly?" Dereck asked, confused.

"Means that out of this planet there must be millions and millions of life forms different from ours, and that's only what they have seen, maybe there’s more."

"Seriously?" asked Anduin, amazed.

"Yes, and there are also registered about seventy five norgabytes of existing chemical compounds."

"I'm starting to feel small..."

"Amazing..." Wrathion moved the discs again quickly and the blurry image of a fat worm appeared. "G'huun..." the dragon read. "He's made up of many things apart from Y'Shaarj's blood, they saturated him with a lot of things from what I see... Accelerated growth... Containment failure, blah blah blah... To... To destroy the specimen, the chamber consoles located throughout the central wing must be reactivated."

"Consoles?" Anduin asked, paying attention. "Which ones? From the center of Uldir?"

"Activating the consoles gives access to G’huun's chamber, where the specimen can be removed by ‘boosting recreation’ in an emergency."

"Boost of what?" Genn asked. "I don't understand anything about that."

"I do. It's like activating a cannon of contained titanic magic in order to destroy G’huun, but then I don't understand why the Titans didn't do it when they should."

"Doesn't it say any of that?" Anduin insisted, Wrathion continued reading but shook his head.

"It doesn't say why they didn't." Anduin clicked his tongue. "But at least we already know where G’huun is. Let's go to the center of Uldir." they set off once again, leaving Zek’voz's corpse to rot.

That was the third herald of N’Zoth that Wrathion found, they weren't difficult to kill once you knew the weak point, but for him it was more and more clear what was the plan N'Zoth had with all of this. They left the room and went down some stairs that led to the center of Uldir. There were corpses of various races apart from blood trolls, mostly orcs and tauren, it seemed like it was an intense battle. Wrathion approached Zul's corpse and couldn't help wondering why he let himself be possessed by N’Zoth. For power like Azshara? Has he held a grudge against Rastakhan for years and that's why he made a deal? When Wrathion was in Stormwind's dungeons, he was very close to him, but didn't know he was under control. He didn't notice until he made the little trip to Uldum, where the Zandalari confirmed it. He regretted it when he realized it, but that stain had finally been removed... because N’Zoth wanted it.

"Are these the consoles?" Tess asked in front of one.

"Yes, and the others are over there." Wrathion looked at the ground and, after realizing something, bent down to inspect.

"What are you doing?" Dereck asked.

"There’s a door here..." everyone looked at him confused. "Help me to move the bodies."

Without asking questions and quickly, they moved the bodies from a square area where, indeed, there was a door that led to a lower level, the door they were looking for all along. Anduin began to notice palpitations in his head again, he could notice that some energies of the Void emanated from down there.

"There's something down there... but it has to do with the Void, not with the blood." Anduin said, scratching his head.

"Yes, I also notice something strange." Wrathion corroborated. "I'm going to see if it says anything on the consoles."

Wrathion looked on all three consoles, but the only use they had was to open G’huun's gate and a containment system. Anduin was rubbing his temple as he watched Wrathion manipulate the console when he realized something, someone was watching them from above. He couldn't see exactly who it was and looked like a giant.

"Wrathion," the young king whispered, the dragon looked at him. "there's something watching us." the dragon turned and looked up. The others also became aware of the presence and the worgen next to them transformed.

"Wait!" Wrathion raised his hand to stop him. "It's a Titan Keeper." Wrathion took a few steps and raised his voice a little. "We aren't a threat! We want to help! Can you come down?"

That Keeper leaped and fell calmly in front of Wrathion, the ground trembled slightly as it fell. It had a feminine form and was bigger than Herzel.

"Who are you?" Wrathion asked.

"Matron of Tenacity, Herald of Endless Research. Designation: MOTHER."

"MOTHER?" Anduin murmured. "Wait, Herzel told us about her."

"Finally we find the main Keeper." Wrathion ran a hand over his face. "Okay, MOTHER, what happened to G’huun?"

"Experiment two-three-five, designation: G’huun, created from a piece of an old god and saturated with various bloods. G’huun showed signs of intelligence very quickly and had uncontrolled affinity for blood, which led to him being kept in constant isolation d-"

"Wait, wait, we know that, what we want to know is what happened when the Titans left Uldir."

"G’huun containment failure, an infection created by G’huun could not be contained, the creators considered that it was best to remove that infection and close the Uldir facility."

"And why did they leave G’huun alive?" MOTHER was silent for a few seconds.

"Unknown reason."

"What?" Wrathion said indignantly. "How can you not know? You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"They didn't program me parameters to lie. Unknown reason." she insisted, Wrathion sighed annoyed.

"What happened to you? When did it all go down?"

"Sixteen thousand years ago, the creators assigned me and Guardian Taloc to protect Uldir from outside threats and keep G’huun in his prison. Failure of conscience happened, cause: G’huun and unknown voice."

"Unknown voice?" Anduin repeated looking at Wrathion. "N’Zoth?"

"N’Zoth, Y'Shaarj, or who knows…" answered the dragon. "One more question, MOTHER, the one that is just below us, is G’huun?"

"Negative, G’huun is in a lower level." they all blinked.

"Who is under our feet then?"

"Void life form." Wrathion seemed to deflate as he reflected, turned around and looked at everyone.

"Mythrax is there."

"What?" Tess said, astonished. "How did that C'Thraxxi end up there?"

"The same way Zek’voz appeared before us, using Void techniques."

"And what do we do against a C'Thraxxi?" Mathias asked. "I don't think that has a weak point like Zek’voz."

"I'll kill him." said Wrathion.

"Wait," said Anduin. "no."

"Why do you think I didn't need people? Mythrax isn't something you can attack like Zek’voz, and G’huun must be killed in a special way. I'll go down and take care of both, but you all have to escape."

"Of course not." Anduin shook his arms. "We have come here together so we will fight together."

"But this isn't something you can fight against."

"No! Wrathion, no."

"I plan to bring down Uldir." Anduin looked at him confused. "I don't want to bury you too."

"Why do you want to do that?"

"It's better that all the investigations that were made here are forgotten, nobody should know what was done here, it should never fall into the wrong hands."

"There has to be another way..."

"Do you want to stay watching the door and see who is worthy to enter or not? Or wait for someone to corrupt the Keepers again? Anduin," Wrathion put his hands on the young king's shoulders. "there are things that must be eliminated so they won't cause problems in the future. I'm not going to take a risk, much less if N’Zoth has an interest in this place."

"And why you? What will happen to you?"

"I'll survive, I always do, and if this time I don't, I'll rest in peace knowing that no one will enter here."

"No."

Anduin grabbed Wrathion by the arm. He didn't even want to think about the fact that maybe Wrathion was going to die. After everything that had happened, Anduin wasn't at all sure that he would be able to deal with it, he didn't want to give him the last goodbye. Wrathion could survive, but against Mythrax and G’huun there was no guarantee. Anduin thought he was being selfish for not wanting to let him go, but he was very attached to him.

"Don't do it," Anduin said. "we will find a way, but don't be suicidal." Wrathion looked at him more seriously.

"These are your people, don't let several members of the Alliance be buried here, get them out of here."

"With you."

Wrathion shook his head and went to the console, ready to open the door. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen now. Wrathion had made his decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spud is love, Spud is life. I found it amusing when I first saw it in Nazmir and that's why I made a cameo xD Thanks for taking the time to read, this was a bit long and hard to translate, and the next is even longer, I'll die translating  
Until next time! Take care!


	26. G'huun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello agaain, I hope you're well! Here it's starting to get hot (summer coming D:) and I'm getting lazier than usual, I think that's why I took a little longer T.T  
Note that this (for now) is the longest chapter for now, about 9000 words, but there was a lot to say D: I hope you like it!  
Still, sorry for grammar mistakes

This time they crossed the line. As soon as she found out what they did, Jaina got angry. She tried to make Anduin understand it, she even followed the democracy protocol, submitting the decision to a vote where in the end it was shown that the majority accepted that attacking Dazar’alor was the best thing. Even doing things his way, Anduin decided to sneak to Nazmir in the middle of the night. Obviously Jaina could quickly see who supported him, Genn, Tyrande and Mathias went with him along with a small number of troops. She wasn't surprised that Genn and Mathias went with him as they practically followed him everywhere, but she didn't expect Tyrande to go too.

But of course, none of them was the trigger. It was the dragon, it was always the dragon's fault. Jaina thought that she should have executed him as soon as she knew he was in Stormwind and overcome the inner conflict she had, now she screwed up. The first thing Jaina did was explain the situation to Turalyon and Alleria, both raised their hands to their heads when they found out what had happened and then Alleria communicated something else.

"Velen has retired all his support for the attack on Dazar’alor, he says he doesn't want to be part of it and that we don't count on him. He used very similar words to Anduin. And not only Velen, Falstad also retired the support, he was doubtful and in the end opted for no."

"Now it's only us and Gelbin for the attack." Turalyon added.

"This is getting better and better..." Jaina murmured thoughtfully. "We have to change the plan."

"What do we do?" Turalyon asked. "It's not as if we could attack the city, we lack everything."

"Not feasible right now." Jaina said, turning the matter over.

"We wait?"

"No," Jaina seemed to come to a conclusion. "we must still protect our borders. If we cannot attack the city, we will attack the Zandalari fleet, it's still the biggest problem now."

"It was in the original plan, wasn't it?" Alleria said. "What is the difference?"

"That we will not fight at their doors, we will taunt them to come to open seas, we will bring the entire Kul Tiras fleet for this." Turalyon and Alleria looked at each other for a moment.

"When?" Turalyon asked.

"Now, this very night while everyone is distracted, are you with me?"

"It's time for them to pay." Alleria said.

"The world will be safe from savages someday." Turalyon added.

"Well, I need someone to tell Gelbin. I'll prepare the fleet, I'll wait for you at the docks."

Alleria volunteered to tell Gelbin quickly and both adults went to give orders. Jaina smiled as soon as they left, they would at least follow her. While giving orders to certain captains of the fleet, she was still angry at those who left. They ruined a perfectly round plan and she should probably keep that in mind for future ideas, she will have to make more elaborate plans next time. Yes, everything would go perfect next time... Unless the dragon meddled again, in which case, she must take action in the matter against him... or perhaps separate Anduin from him.

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Wrathion prepared the door and the recreation impulse before going to G’huun, he left it in such a way that they only had to press two buttons to open and activate it. Anduin didn't stop trying to avoid the possible death of the dragon, he wasn't prepared for such a thing. After three years without seeing each other and becoming friends again, he didn't want to separate. But Wrathion wasn't going to change his mind, he had prepared himself to face these threats all this time, he wouldn't stop fighting.

"Wrathion..." Anduin called, discouraged. "Just for the last time, let's find another way..."

"In the main console there are two buttons," said Wrathion, looking at him seriously. "the one on the right opens this door, the one on the left activates the recreation impulse. Just press them."

"What if you never come back?"

"I'll do whatever I can to return, otherwise it will have to be assumed." Anduin looked at the ground, frowning sadly and looked away, a lump was forming in his throat.

"But I would miss you so much." Wrathion's gaze changed upon hearing that, it became much softer and more understanding. He approached Anduin and put his arm around his shoulders to attract and hug him.

"I'll also miss you as long as we aren't together." he said whispering in his ear.

"And if you don't come back, what do I do then?"

"Never stop fighting for this world, and I... I'll await you across the sea." Wrathion separated and Anduin looked at him a little confused, he didn't understand what he meant with his last words. "Open."

Wrathion turned around and proceeded to switch to his dragon form. Anduin, forcing himself, moved to the console and pressed the right button. As the door began to open, energies from the Void came out. Anduin could feel the pressure in his head from the Void, as if telling him that Mythrax was too much for him. Wrathion leaned over the edge and could see it. The fall was long and led to a huge partially dark room, Mythrax was in the center and looked up as soon as the dragon appeared.

The first thing Wrathion did was to breathe the most powerful flare he had, Mythrax tried to protect itself from it with a shadow barrier, but it ended up burning some parts. Wrathion jumped inside the hole, fell on top of the C'Thraxxi and began to try to dismember him with his claws or with bites, but Mythrax with his power resisted it without much problems and took him off. Wrathion tried to find some key point, but at first glance, Mythrax hadn't one. Everyone gawked at the situation. Anduin frowned as he looked at Mythrax, he could feel the forces of the Void without any difficulty and he felt more and more overwhelmed by it. As Mythrax began channeling some kind of beam, Anduin fell to his knees. His head ached more than it should and the voices became desperate screams and laughter surrounding him. Genn bent down to see if he was okay, but there was nothing he could do to ease the pain. Mythrax finished channeling the shadow beam against Wrathion which advanced somewhat slowly towards him, the dragon in response breathed another flare against the beam and the air thinned as soon as they collided. It looked like a festival of fire and shadows from above, and some moved away for safety as soon as the powers came out.

Wrathion saw an entrance when the fire and shadows began to disappear. A small gap between what looked like white fur appeared just behind Mythrax. That must be the path to G’huun by discard, but Mythrax was in the way. Wrathion decided to do something crazy, he had never faced a C’Thraxxi, nor had he ever seen one before face to face, but he did see them through his training and knew something that could destabilize it.  
Using his magic, Wrathion created a large human of fire and earth and sent it against Mythrax. To his fortune, Mythrax fell in the distraction for a few seconds, long enough for Wrathion to pounce on him. The distraction he created disintegrated with the power of Mythrax, but Wrathion attacked the C’Thraxxi's right arm and bit it to the ground. Mythrax screeched as it lost its right arm and shadows began to push Wrathion aside. Mythrax spun around and, with the other arm, hit Wrathion with all its might, hitting him against the wall, the ground shook when he collided.  
  
Wrathion rose slowly, shaking his head. The C'Thraxxi had hit him hard enough to hurt him, he began to notice when he tried to stand up, his left front leg failed. It wasn't too much pain, he could walk, but it was enough to make him limp.

Mythrax created a 'bandage' of shadows to cover the lost arm. Although he was in pain, Wrathion wanted to take the opportunity. The dragon dug his claws into the ground, even though his left leg ached, he channeled his magic onto the ground. Mythrax noticed right at the end and moved to stop him, but Wrathion roared loudly as he finished. Those who were up covered their ears when Wrathion roared, but it all fell into awkward silence afterward. Neither understood what was happening until a rock fell nearby.

Uldir's foundations slowly began to crumble and parts of the roof fell. Mythrax roared at Wrathion angrily and charged awkwardly at him, the dragon easily dodged and hit it with another flare that made it more angry. As Wrathion stayed against the wall, the C’Thraxxi advanced on him when he passed through the center, a part of the roof fell into the hole and hit Mythrax in the back, knocking him down almost instantly. Wrathion took advantage of that, he drove a claw into the ground again to create another earthquake, of less intensity, to accelerate the sinking. Thanks to that small moment, a large part of the ceiling fell on Mythrax's head, disfiguring it, and fell on the ground, Mythrax had a few spasms until it stopped. Wrathion approached the C’Thraxxi and with his claws finished tearing it to pieces. Uldir began to tremble violently and some started to say that the best thing was to get out of there as soon as possible. Anduin looked at Wrathion, the dragon stared back at him, and even if Anduin couldn't read Wrathion's expression because he was in his dragon form, he knew the dragon was waiting for something. The young king only understood when Wrathion nodded at him to leave.

"Get out of there!" Anduin said, but Wrathion shook his head.

"G’huun cannot stay alive! I have to make sure."

"We can come back when everything stops shaking." Wrathion denied again and stood on his back legs to stay closer to Anduin.

"Get them out of here, don't put the rest in danger for me."

"You're an idiot for putting me in that situation!"

"I always was." Genn put his hand on Anduin's shoulder and he looked at him.

"It's his decision," he said softly. "and we cannot stay here." Anduin looked at Wrathion again, frowning.

"Press the left button and run away." insisted. Anduin sighed.

"If you die, I'll kill you!" Wrathion smiled inside.

"I'll be back.  _Zu’u orim daal hi_ ."

He didn't want to, but he had to leave. Anduin hated choosing something like that, he didn't want to abandon anyone but Wrathion made his decision. He only had to pray to the Light like never before, praying that the dragon would get out of there alive, he had faith in it, but his voice of reason told him that Wrathion would probably be buried. Anduin went to the console to press the button, and when he did it, he heard in the background as if a stream of water was moving through pipes quickly. He ignored it and led the others to the hall where they came in.

Wrathion felt calm knowing that they left, he didn't want to carry those deaths, especially Anduin's. He returned to his human form to get a closer look at that entrance. It was very narrow and had a thin white layer of pus around it, aside, a stench of rotting blood came from inside. Wrathion noticed the pain in his left arm, he had to be careful when dealing with G’huun since he wasn't one hundred percent and didn't even know what he would really find. But Wrathion was determined to finish him off.

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It was difficult to get out through the Underrot. The place didn't stop shaking and several stones were constantly falling, climbing through the hole where the door was it almost killed them. Between the falling stones and the considerable height, it took longer than expected. Genn and the other worgen were the only ones who climbed without difficulty thanks to the agility they had and helped the others not to fall. Once everyone was out the hole, they started running.

The Underrot almost collapsed with them inside, but they were able to rush out of the cave. It was the safest way, the Horde might still be at the main entrance and they didn't want to take risks even though it was a difficult route. The wooden ramp was broken in some parts and they had to take huge leaps to get to the other side, but once they arrived on the surface, it was all slightly calmer, although it was still raining. The ground was shaking under their feet and Uldir's pyramid was falling apart, the light radiating from the center disappeared. Dereck, with the trembling and the wet ground, fell to the ground and Anduin helped him. Being slightly behind, they had to speed up a bit. 

But the others stopped just before going up the ramp that led them out of the Heart of Darkness. Anduin thought they were waiting for them, but as he got closer he saw two people getting in the way. Maybe Anduin felt something drop at his feet when he recognized him, Baine was there looking back at him, very confused. There was a tauren next to him, judging by the horns, she seemed to be from the HighMountain tribe. She made a small gesture with her spear, but Baine raised his fist to keep her in position. Anduin reacted when he saw that and stood in front of his group because he was seeing some people drawing their weapons.

"Wait." Anduin said, raising his hands. "We will not attack anyone, there have been enough losses today."

"That is true." Baine replied.

Anduin lowered his arms a little and with it the tension decreased. He hadn't seen Baine since that battle in the Stormsong Valley where he spared his life, nor had he heard from him. But the fact that Baine decided to lower his weapons, even at such a time, gave him confidence that he wouldn’t attack.

"I thought you weren't around here anymore." Anduin said. Baine's ears moved slightly.

"We had to go back to Zuldazar, but suddenly Uldir began to tremble. We are investigating to figure out the cause... Was it you?"

"Not exactly... It's because we were going for G’huun." Baine frowned.

"G’huun?"

"The semi old god of blood, we also got rid of Mythrax." Baine denied.

"Mythrax was there?"

"Under a door that we opened, now one of our party has stayed to eliminate G’huun."

"But..." Baine's face became confused. "G’huun is something real?" Anduin took a deep breath, they knew nothing.

"Yes, a dangerous bug, that's why we came here, nothing more."

"I thought you would be in the attack." Anduin frowned.

"What attack?"

"We received the warning a few minutes ago that the Alliance was attacking near Dazar’alor's harbor."

"What!?"

Anduin looked at Genn as soon as he heard that, he returned the surprised look. He couldn't believe it, in the end they did it, although a large part retired their support, they attacked anyway. Anduin felt anger and disappointment at the same time. Between Wrathion's decision and this, he felt the heat in his chest.

"Holy shit, their stubbornness..." Genn murmured.

"We denied that attack." Anduin said to Baine. "We are here because we didn't want to do something like that." 

"There are many things we don't want to do in this crazy war." Baine said, dejectedly.

"Baine," said the tauren behind, Baine turned. "we can't stay here, and as far as I know, they are enemies, what are you doing?"

"Easy, Mayla, they are not a threat."

"If anyone sees us..."

"No one will." Baine looked at Anduin. "You must go." Anduin tried to say something, but Baine denied. "Just get out of here, I won't give the alarm, but you have to go."

"Neither of us wants this, right?" Anduin asked, taking a step. "You can come with us."

"What?" Baine blinked.

"I know you, I know you don't like the bases of this war, that's why..."

"Are you crazy?" Baine asked, shaking his head. "Fraternizing with the enemy would be treason."

"Then why didn't you kill me that day or right now?" Baine said nothing. "Please..."

"I can't, I shouldn't. She would kill me for treason."

"Sylvanas? But if only you come t-"

"Not just me." there was an awkward silence. "I must protect my people, and you yours, so go away, pretend we have never crossed paths, please."

Anduin looked at the others, they couldn't be stuck here, nobody was supposed to see them, but he really wanted Baine to come. Anduin told the others to get going while Baine and Mayla started to walk away. Anduin began to suspect that something very shady was happening in the Horde. It was no longer because of the voice tone Baine used when saying that, it was also his body language, he was very uneasy. Of course, he understood what he was referring to: Sylvanas probably had everyone under threat, especially those who could disagree with her decisions, to eliminate them for treason. And not only them, she could also threaten all their people. It was quite unfair, living in constant threat by your own leader as if you were a mere slave. Although he wanted to theorize about what was happening in the Horde, his thoughts strayed to what Baine communicated, in the end Dazar’alor was attacked.

He felt angry, although he recognized that what they did was something similar, they also betrayed the other leaders by leaving without saying anything, but the reasons were very different. They wanted revenge for crimes that the Horde didn't exactly commit while Anduin led their own to stop a madness that could wipe out all life in the world. Was his decision better? What if he was actually being selfish for thinking badly of those who attacked Dazar’alor just because they didn't agree on his ideas? No, he did the right thing, he wouldn't destroy innocent lives, he would talk to them once he saw them, now they had to find Tyrande and return to the ships. The rain got worse as soon as they came out of the Heart of Darkness, just when the pyramid began to fall.

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The noise that came from the surface was enough confirmation for Wrathion that his plan was going well, Uldir would be forgotten forever after this, only one piece remained: G’huun. He had to push several pieces of tissue, bloody pustules and pus out of his way with his weapon. He thought that G’huun was terrible to decorate his home, it was disgusting to walk there. He reached the end of the road and had to go down to a not very deep hole, he landed in what appeared to be G’huun's chamber. It didn't seem too big, but it was cold and dark, Wrathion realized it despite being able to see in the dark. However, he encountered a problem, there was no trace of his target, it just seemed to be empty. He could hear the wind coming through somewhere while the site was still shaking, some small stones fell. It was just when he looked up when he saw the cannon that channeled the recreation impulse. With that, Wrathion was sure that he was in the right place, but it seemed strange to him not to see anyone. He took a look around trying to analyze how he could use the cannon. He saw small lights at both ends of the room. Even without getting close, he could feel the titans magic radiating from them, he supposed he should use them.

“_Who are you?”_

Wrathion looked ahead. A voice rang in his ears in Shath'Yar with a harsh tone, as if it was hoarse. Wrathion had to admit that he didn't expect to hear it so suddenly and almost scared him, but he calmed down immediately. G’huun was the only one who could speak to him there.

_"Who are you?"_ insisted.

_"I'm... a visit."_ Wrathion replied, calmly.

_"What is your name?"_

_"Wrathion, and yours?"_ although Wrathion already knew it, he preferred to show him courtesy and a certain innocence. In addition, Wrathion wanted him to think that he wasn't a threat.

_"G’huun. Where are you from?"_

_"I have no home."_

_"Your presence is similar to a friend."_

_"Do you have any friends here?"_

_"No, he is far away, but sometimes he talks to me."_ Wrathion suspected.  _"You are very similar, are you a friend of N’Zoth?"_

_"N’Zoth?"_ Wrathion had to suppress all desire to laugh.  _"We aren't friends, but I know him, sometimes we talk, just like you."_

There was a slight tremor, but not because of the earthquake that Wrathion caused, rather it was because the wall on the other side of the chamber began to break. A huge creature emerged from the hole. Wrathion recognized him because he saw a similar image on the console where there was all the information about the cosmos, a big fat eyeless worm with a leech mouth, that was G’huun.

_"Then I will ask you the obvious question."_ G’huun said.  _"What are you?"_ Wrathion blinked in confusion.

_"I'm a black dragon."_

_"I know that, I meant the other half of you."_

Wrathion looked at him in surprise. He wasn't sure that G’huun would have enough power to notice these things, but he realized his small condition, which gave Wrathion a clue of how powerful he could be.

_"It's nothing what you’re noticing, I... I was born like that." _

_"No one is born with that, only specific beings have it... and you remind me of them."_

_"Them?"_ Wrathion wanted to get him to talk.

_"The creators,"_ G’huun started to advance and Wrathion fell back.  _"and I hate the creators."_

_"Did they do something bad to you?"_

_"They created me, took me apart and reassembled me, no matter what I suffered, they just wanted to perfect me to look like what they were looking for, every day the same torture. And you smell like them."_

_"I assure you that I'm not one of them, I'm just a black dragon. You don't know how to manage emotions so that they don't affect you with innocent people?"_

_"I do not know what you are talking about."_

_"Emotions,"_ he repeated, but G’huun didn't seem to understand.  _"the things you feel are called emotions, like the hatred you have against your creators, a strong emotion."_

_"They never taught me anything about emotions, everything I know N’Zoth told me."_

_"N’Zoth hasn't told you everything, I could help you with that."_

_"What do you know about this?"_ Wrathion sighed.

_"I was also created, they were constantly studying me before I even came out of the egg, and they didn't care about what I felt, nor if they hurt me, they were only interested in the experiment, so I understand you."_

_"Who created you?"_ he asked very curious

_"Other dragons."_

Wrathion began to think that G’huun's attitude was more and more like… a kid. One who only knew the hole where he lived. Most likely, he hadn't even felt the sunlight or the grass. Wrathion was starting to feel a little sorry for him. G’huun got close enough to Wrathion for the dragon to feel somewhat intimidated, it was too big. Then his mouth moved. Although he looked like a leech, the opening in his mouth moved forward, lengthening as long as himself, and just pounced on Wrathion. The dragon pulled away almost at the last moment, didn't expect him to attack or attempt to devour. Wrathion frowned at him.

_"No one ever told you that you shouldn't eat your visitors?"_

_"I know what you are trying, you want to activate the cannon."_

_"Me? Why?"_

_"Because the impulse was activated."_ Wrathion was interested, it was clear that G’huun knew about it, perhaps he could take advantage by deceiving him.

_"What impulse? There is nothing here except you and me."_

_"The lights are there, I feel the power."_

_"Ah, the lights, I think it's because of the battle that took place in Uldir. It's all broken, did you know?"_

_"Battle..."_

_"Yes, the Zandalaris have killed Zul and destroyed the place, the consoles, everything... that's why it's falling apart."_

_"If it is broken, why are they here?"_

_"Well, when you break things, sometimes when you hit, you activate things. I once opened a secret door by knocking on a wall in frustration, it was fun. Other than that, those lights don't appear to be a weapon."_

_"They are."_ G’huun turned his head and Wrathion looked in the direction. At the top of the chamber was a hole the size of the lights, one on the right and one on the left and Wrathion thought that maybe he should put the lights in there to activate the cannon.

_"That hole? Don't worry, friend, I don't think it works, look how cracked the walls are, it will be broken inside."_

_"How can you be so sure?"_

_"Because the building is falling. First the walls are broken inside and then everything else. Look, I'll show you that they don't work."_

Wrathion walked towards the light on the left, turning his back on G’huun, a way to make him see that he had his confidence, although he kept his senses to the maximum in case G'huun made any strange movement. As he approached the light, he could feel the magic power, it was obviously perfectly operational but Wrathion had to prove to him that it was harmless. He was very lucky that he learned very strong protection spells against magic and used the best of all. He wrapped his hand and part of the forearm in an almost imperceptible protective spell and reached into the light. The spell protected him well, he only felt the intense heat of the light, if Wrathion had been of any other race, he would have completely burned his hand, but he had an advantage. The dragon looked at G’huun.

_"You see? It's nothing."_ it seemed that G'huun was looking at him with curiosity.

_"What are you using?"_

His eyelid trembled, G’huun was realizing that something was wrong even though he didn't know what it was. Something on the surface collapsed, it was the reason the ground shook excessively. Several rocks fell, making the central space smaller. One of the largest rocks fell on G’huun's head, making him groan in pain. Wrathion took advantage of the fact that he was distracted to take the light and put it in the hole, he only hoped it was the right place and that it would really help him activate the cannon. G’huun tried to move forward, but other small rocks fell on his body and he didn't have enough space. A small stone fell on Wrathion's left shoulder. His arm was still hurt from his fight against Mythrax, the light almost fell, but he made an effort trying to resist the pain and paid attention to the falling stones and rocks. He kept moving in a continuous zigzag until he reached the hole. Wrathion figured he just had to just put the light in and when he did it, he could hear the flow of energy starting to run just below his feet. But G’huun had managed to get too close, he stretched out his mouth again and Wrathion thought he would try to eat him, but by dodging it, G’huun decided to hit him with the edge. G’huun hit him so hard that the dragon shot out and hit the wall with his bad arm. The impact was even stronger and Wrathion noted that his left arm only responded with pain, he couldn't move it. Wrathion held his arm close to the body. He couldn't even consider taking out his weapon for this, he was tired and his body began to hurt, but if he put the last light in, it would end everything, the cannon would hit on G'huun for sure since he ran out of space.

_"You are a liar."_ G’huun said.

_"First lesson in life, everyone lies, there is no exception. Didn't they tell you?"_

_"I should have killed you as soon as I noticed your essence, but it is not too late."_

_"Tell me one thing, G’huun, what lie did N’Zoth tell you?"_

_"He never told me lies!"_ for some reason, he seemed angry. Wrathion stood up.

_"You believe them very easily, sure he told you a lie._

_"There were no lies, he just told me what it really was."_

_"You aren't one of them, you aren't an old god."_

_"I can become one, I can have my true identity, N’Zoth will help me with this when I destroy the original plan they gave me."_ Wrathion blinked.

_"What original plan did the Titans have for you other than investigating the old gods?"_

G’huun twisted slightly, blood began to flow from the ground. Slowly, the bloods took strange shapes, some had arms and legs like a deformed humanoid, others remained in sha shaped drops of blood, the room was filled with dangerous enemies.

_"I was the experiment,"_ said G’huun.  _"the excuse to prove her strength, the excuse to demonstrate that she can be worthy if she killed me. But if I kill her with N’Zoth’s help, my life will belong to me."_

_"Who are you talking about?"_ Wrathion already had a slight suspicion of who he was referring to.

_"The one that will replace the fallen titan in the future."_

_"No way..."_ suddenly everything connected in Wrathion's mind, what the Titans wanted to do with G'huun, what N'Zoth promised him, and the reason why all this was happening.  _"That's the reason why they didn't kill you back then?"_ Wrathion sighed in amazement, but suddenly he felt a big anger.  _"But how can they be such motherfuckers…"_

The blood creatures moved towards Wrathion, since G’huun was unable to do so due to lack of space, the servants would. Wrathion gritted his teeth, now that he knew the whole truth, it was time to end this matter. Although his left arm didn't respond, he grabbed his weapon with his other hand and brushed away the first blood that reached him. He used a flare to make his way to the left side of the chamber and reach the other missing light. There was only one blood that reached and evaporated with the fire, but at least it had created a corridor of fire that he could easily go through. G’huun used his mouth again to cut off his path, but Wrathion jumped over it and continued. He got rid of a pair of misshapen humanoids with a single move before reaching the light. Although the light weighed nothing, he didn't trust carrying it with his bad arm, so he holstered his weapon and would use fire or magic to get to the other side. The collapse helped him a lot too, several rocks fell on the servants, although sometimes they hindered the way for him. Wrathion dispatched the largest misshapen with fire when he realized he was setting the entire place on fire. As the place was full of tissue or pustules, it was logical that it would end up happening, also G’huun couldn't do much being trapped. Standing a meter from the hole, a stone fell on Wrathion's head. He was about to fall completely, but he remained on his knees noticing how blood began to flow down the right side of his face. He had to close one eye to keep the blood from entering, and although it cost him horrors to stand up once more, he ended up putting in the last light. Again he heard the energy channeled somewhere, and the cannon began to glow as brightly as the lights.

The cannon shot hit G’huun, the entire chamber lit up. G’huun was screaming in agony as the light began to remove his skin as if it was burning, the other bloods that remained in the room began to disintegrate as well. G’huun tried to move in vain, getting out of the light was his only salvation, but so many rocks fell through the chamber and it was impossible. G’huun looked at Wrathion and let out a desperate shriek.

_"No! I do not want to!"_ G’huun said.  _"It was not supposed to be a fantasy! I was supposed to have my own life! My life belongs to me! I don't want to die! Please…"_

Wrathion couldn't help but feel sorry, G’huun was clinging to life as best as he could. But the dragon couldn't let him live, his purpose would be what N’Zoth told him, and that only meant he would manipulate G'huun to make life impossible in Azeroth and Wrathion couldn't allow it. G’huun screamed once more before the lightning bolt launched the last discharge, after that, G’huun fell. The burned body remained inert in the center, with the mouth out of its place, while the rocks began to bury him. Wrathion could feel that the magical blood influence diminished until it disappeared, now he could say it loud and clear, G’huun was dead.

Now it was more clear to him, Wrathion had his doubts at first about burying Uldir, but now he knew it was for the best. Beings who used to brag about having a 'good' view of things like the Titans. Beings who thought for their own benefit, like N’Zoth. At the end of all, G’huun was the biggest victim and injustice of Uldir's experiments. He definitely had to bury that place and all the memories forever.  
  
Wrathion tried to move through the rubble, but several rocks cut off any way out, one of them fell so close that, after dodging it, he fell to the ground. Other rocks fell and left him trapped between them. Wrathion had trouble moving, and having his left arm hurt like that didn't help him at all. Feeling completely trapped, he sat between the rocks in fetal position and closed his eyes, he was very exhausted. How long would it be until he suffocated? Or how long before a rock crushed him? After all, he had asked for it, it was fair that he died there. He had accomplished his mission, eliminated a potential threat, and Azeroth would be a bit safer. It was true that N’Zoth remained, but he had a vague hope that Anduin would continue to fight him.

Wrathion caused a lot of damage in the past, especially on what he swore to protect with his life, if Azeroth was dying it was only his fault. How could he fail a mission as simple as protecting the planet? That was the purpose of his flight and everyone broke it, he thought he wouldn't, but it was the one that hurt Azeroth the most. Yes, perhaps he could make up for it with his death, he often thought about that in recent years.

Wrathion knew that the Heart of Darkness pyramid was almost destroyed by the noise the place was making, he didn't have much left.

Wrathion opened his eyes, would the debt really be paid if he died? Would he really ease that much pain? If Wrathion thought about it, he was actually breaking the most important promise he ever made in his life.

‘I have given you the biggest gift in existence, with it you will always notice my presence and you will not be alone. But in return, you have to promise me something very important. I know you, I know your thoughts, that's why, no matter what happens, if they attack you or if everyone turns their backs on you... You have to promise me that you will live and return me this big favor, you have to do it... You have to come back, Wrathion… Promise me… Promise me…’

Wrathion stopped a rock that was going to bury him with his good hand and got up, after all, no earth could harm him, he was one of the most powerful black dragons and, by nature, he could control it.

"Oh no... I don't plan to die here... I still have a big debt to repay…"

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Little raindrops fell when they got to the ships. It was difficult to gather all those scattered through Nazmir. They ran into Tyrande halfway when they already found several of their own and told everyone it was time to leave. Tyrande looked exhausted, explaining that she saw many blood trolls running away, but they were all downcast. Shandris gave a very similar report when they found her. It took them time to find everyone and get them back. Anduin had to explain to them why the earth was shaking and what they found in Uldir, Tyrande only made a single comment: "I would have liked to be there."

Those who were defending the ships looked relieved to see them, but not because they were alive, rather it was because they were bored and wanted to leave at once. Anduin realized that there were blood troll corpses nearby. Pike confirmed that they killed them themselves since they wanted to steal the ships. They made a recount, had few casualties, but enough to weigh on everyone's conscience. Anduin was still with his serious face, he didn't know if he was angry or sad. Sad because Wrathion stayed in Uldir, angry at the news Baine gave him, he wasn't sure he wanted to leave the place. Gentle touches on his ankle caught his eye, Spud was there.

"Spud!" Anduin said a little cheerfully.

"Well, that thing likes you if it has followed you here." Genn said. Anduin stroked the round head lovingly, at least one had returned. He picked it up.

"Can we come back home?" Flynn asked. "It's not that I don't like the smell of rotting dead or anything, it's just that I left dinner on the fire and I don't think I closed the back door correctly."

"That's your fault then." Mathias muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"You’re such a killjoy..."

"I don't know if we should go..." Anduin said looking away.

Deep down, he wanted to think that Wrathion would come back just as he said, and he wanted to hold onto it. By personal request, they decided to wait a few minutes while they prepared the ships to depart. Pike explained to them that, using his power over the tides, he was able to detect a sea battle nearby and that judging by the currents, the Kul Tiras fleet was implicated because he sensed the Tidesage power. Anduin had to fake surprise, since he already knew what he was talking about exactly, but gave him a slight idea of where they really were. It looked like they didn't reach Dazar’alor and were fighting only the Zandalari fleet. Could they change their minds? He recalled that Jaina complained a lot about the enemy fleet and that it was her main problem. Perhaps seeing all the people rejecting the Dazar’alor idea she decided to take a smaller goal.

The ships were ready and some embarked ready to leave after a good while, Anduin continued with his infinite patience and extended their leave as much as he could. In the end, it was Genn who had to speak.

"Anduin, I think it's time for you to consider the other possibility."

"I don't know what you’re talking about." he didn't bother to hide that he did know.

"He did a heroic act, and he will be remembered for it, but..."

"You don't know him, he won't die for something like that."

Tess, who was in front, gave him a compassionate look, it was normal to her that he acted with such stubbornness because she understood him. Anduin sighed as he left Spud on the ground, but when he looked at Tess, he saw that she was looking something at his back quite surprised and suddenly she half smiled.

"But what a big son of a bitch..."

Genn nudged Tess, as if telling her not to say those things. Anduin turned around and thought his heart was pounding with excitement, Wrathion was there. The dragon walked crookedly and had a lot of blood running down one side of his face, and he also held his left arm close to his body. Anduin didn't hesitate for a second and ran towards him. As soon as he reached him, he gave him a hug, but the dragon gave a small groan of pain.

"My arm, my arm." Wrathion was grateful that Anduin hugged him, but he squeezed too hard and his arm screamed in agony. Anduin stopped hugging him.

"Sorry, is just..." the young king rested his forehead on the dragon's chest. "It's just... Light bless you."

"I'm fine, more or less."

"You look horrible." Tess said once she reached him. "We thought you were dead! Well, except Anduin."

"I had setbacks."

"How did you get out of there?" Genn asked.

"With my magic on earth I made my way to the surface, but I'm exhausted, I can't use magic now."

"Did you see G’huun?" Tess asked curiously.

"Yes, he was there, but he's dead now, the impulse worked."

"How was he?" she wanted to know.

"Big, a leech-mouth worm and quite fat. I talked to him and found out what happened in Uldir and what N’Zoth wanted…" before he said anything else, Wrathion almost fell to the ground if not because Anduin grabbed him, he was very tired.

"Okay," said Anduin carrying him. "we better talk on the ship while we return and look at those wounds. And there's something I want to tell you about too."

Anduin helped Wrathion to get to the ship and with that the mission could be finished at last.

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"So the Titans didn't create G’huun just for investigating the old gods?" Tess asked confused. Wrathion took a drink of water.

"No, the reason they left him alive was so that, once the sleeping Titan in Azeroth woke up, she could confront a prototype of an old god and see if she was worthy to replace Sargeras in the Pantheon."

"But," Tyrande chimed in. "and everything else? G’huun was dangerous, he could make the planet uninhabitable again and the seals would not always last. Did they not consider that?"

"Well, you see they didn't, that is called negligence." Wrathion sighed. "Titans have a lot of power, but the bad thing about them is that they rarely think that what they do is questionable or that something they could not foresee could happen. They may have thought that we would resist if G’huun escaped, if he did. And they didn't even consider N’Zoth's mental powers. At the end of it all, G’huun has been a victim of all, I felt bad for him."

"I'm starting to think the Titans haven't done us any favors..." Dereck commented.

"They locked the old gods and were able to make life begin, you wouldn't exist if it weren't for them, that must be recognized, but part of their decisions are negligence. AUCH!" the dragon complained when he noticed pain.

"Sorry, I said maybe I hurt you." Anduin replied, continuing with the cure. "But there's something I don't understand, you said that N’Zoth's plan was perfect, why?"

"Isn't it obvious what he wanted?" they all looked away. "It's easy, as you have told me when you found Baine, he confirmed that they didn't know that G’huun was real, so they weren't going to investigate Uldir, they would only kill Zul and then leave. That meant that Zek’voz, Mythrax and G’huun would be left alive, triple threat ready to leave and, since the Horde had already finished its revenge for the fallen king, they would leave them alone. Between that and the Horde casualties, it was a perfect plan, the only thing N’Zoth had to sacrifice was Zul."

"Would he seriously sacrifice someone like Zul?" Genn asked.

"If you were N’Zoth, would you feel bad about sacrificing him?" Genn thought about it.

"Probably not."

"N’Zoth has no feelings, if by sacrificing one you guarantee that those monsters would be free and would serve you, well I would do it too. But of course, there was a big inconvenience." 

"Which is?" Tess asked.

"Us. I don't think he imagined we would go to Uldir."

"Nor do I think he imagined that the Kul Tiras fleet would attack Dazar’alor." Tyrande commented. Anduin realized something upon hearing that, Wrathion made an almost imperceptible sigh.

"Yes... He wasn't expecting it." perhaps Anduin was starting to know him well enough to know that the dragon was lying, but he couldn't imagine why. He just finished the cure.

"Wrathion," said Anduin. "move your left arm as if you were sawing something." Wrathion did it but in a somewhat slow way. "Does it hurt?"

"Slightly."

"Well, you know, the Light only heals but to an extent, but at least you can move it now. You will have to rest for a few days so don't do crazy things. Emm…" Anduin looked at the others. "Can you leave us alone for a moment? We have to talk."

"Hey." Genn said. "Why so much secret?"

"It will only be a moment, I want to yell at him for what he did."

Genn raised his eyebrows as if wondering if it was a joke, but sighed and left. Tess, Dereck and Tyrande left the cabin as well and both young men were alone. Anduin changed places, sitting to Wrathion's right, he still had to heal the head wound. He left a bandage to stop the small bleeding while he healed Wrathion's arm. After removing the bandage and cleaning the blood a little, Anduin located the wound as he pushed the dragon's hair back and started to work.

"What do you say you're going to yell at me?" Wrathion asked, smiling.

"What have you hidden from them?" Anduin asked finally.

"Hide?"

"You made a strange gesture when they talked about the Alliance attacking Dazar’alor, and you said it as if instead of unexpected, it was something totally expected. I want you to tell me the truth." Wrathion sighed lightly and looked Anduin in the eye.

"Do you remember that N’Zoth provoked the battle of the Stormsong Valley?" Anduin nodded. "And do you remember the conclusion that the Horde had a bigger military power than the Alliance?" Anduin nodded again. "And don't you think that if you were N’Zoth, you would try to damage the Horde from two sides? The casualties of the Uldir assault and, meanwhile, large casualties in Dazar’alor because of the Alliance."

"That's a little coincidence."

"I stopped believing in coincidences when I met N’Zoth. Don't you think everything is very exact and calculated to coincide?" Anduin stopped.

"N’Zoth wanted the Alliance to attack Dazar’alor today?"

"A two-sided attack on the Horde, an ax to its military power, especially to the Zandalaris. They left Uldir very quickly, didn't they? So they would leave the other three alone. As far as I know, he was able to manipulate with that large shipment of Azerite that arrived just recently. I think the main victim is Jaina, who happened to have a lot of trouble with the Zandalaris lately. It was that easy."

"But..." Anduin continued to heal. "If that's true, how could he foresee the times? That we attacked at the same time that the Horde assaulted Uldir is too accurate."

"Anduin... I don't want to worry you too much but... I think N’Zoth is very close to the Alliance. You said it yourself, that attack could be made in a disorganized way, but it hasn't been done until now, waiting for the exact moment while watching the decisions of others." Anduin stopped again.

"Are you implying that we may have a mole?"

"It may be, I'm not sure but… it seems that someone who is close to us is a servant of N’Zoth."

"Who could it be? Didn't you detect anything?"

"They don't have to be under mental control, if they have sworn allegiance to N’Zoth is enough. And it can be anyone, if I remember correctly, the whole army knew it, right? It can be anyone."

"Damn... And who do we trust now?"

"Us, the ones who came here have nothing to do with it, N’Zoth would have stopped us. But of course, we escaped in the middle of the night so there wasn't much to do." Anduin had a sad look. "I didn't want to say this to the others because it seems to me that there's already a lot of mistrust in the Alliance to increase it, it's better that this remains between you and me alone." Anduin nodded, it was better if the others didn't know about this.

"Should we say something about G’huun to the rest of the world? Or do we keep it as a secret?"

"I think the best thing would be not to talk much about it, all this should be forgotten."

"Don't you feel pity for G’huun?" Wrathion cocked his head.

"I'll do the honor to remind him. What happened to G'huun was cruel and I understand why he believed N’Zoth's lies, he just wanted to 'be'."

"And why do you understand him?"

"Because I was created too," Anduin frowned. "and I know how hard it is to realize that you will be someone's whim, that they can hurt you and you can't even complain."

"Who created you?"

"A red dragon under Alexstrasza's orders. She stole black dragon eggs and gathered parts of whelps, then mixed everything in one egg and, after purifying it, I came out. They experimented on me before I came out of the egg."

"Experiments...?" Anduin wasn't sure if he should ask. Wrathion looked at him seriously.

"The type of 'stab here, let's see if it hurts him as if he was a normal dragon.'"

"But that's horrible, no one should have that right."

"Not everyone thinks like this, and if you have the idea of ‘what I do is for the good of the future' you don't stop to think about rules or moralisms that make you doubt, like the Titans, it's like that. But in the end a black dragon took me out of there, that's what it counts, I wouldn't be the slave of red dragons. But that doesn't remove the fact that I'm another monster."

"You aren't a monster." Wrathion looked away, but Anduin placed his hand on his cheek and made Wrathion look at him again. "You are not."

"Thanks, but I know that you have always been... very kind to me." Anduin didn't know what to say, perhaps it was a delicate topic for Wrathion and he thought that the best thing would be not to ask. He finished healing the wound silently.

"I see you have hurt your head several times."

"Yes, that wound has been there for a long time."

"Well, I've scarred it better."

"Thanks for healing me, and thanks for waiting for me. If you left I would have been screwed." Anduin denied.

"I couldn't leave without knowing and I hoped you would get out of there. Although I prefer that you don't scare me like that anymore. I can't be the only guardian, the expert against N’Zoth is you."

"Well, I was hoping you would keep fighting." Wrathion looked at him in the softest way Anduin had ever seen. "You always do. Thank you,  _Di borel’ta_ ."

"Will you tell me what that means? You've been telling me that for a while now." Wrathion hesitated.

"Another day."

Anduin just pouted, he didn't understand why he didn't tell him. But the more he looked into Wrathion's eyes, the more his anger disappeared, after all, he was very glad Wrathion was here. Or maybe it was more than just joy, since Anduin noticed how his heart beat fast a few seconds, the truth is that the young king never wanted him to leave his side. Anduin blinked nervously and stood up.

"We better go outside to get some air, don't you think?"

Wrathion nodded in agreement and put his black jacket back on, they went out on deck. The air was cold and the sea was calm. They both leaned out to starboard to watch the colors of the sunrise. Tess and Dereck joined them to chat about G’huun, they still wanted to know more. But there wasn't much to tell, the only relevant thing that Wrathion could say was that G’huun had probably not seen anyone other than the Titans in his entire life, the dragon was the first being he saw. He never came out of that chamber and that's why his vision was so limited, it was easy to fool him because he had the emotional intelligence of a child. Just with N’Zoth promising him to be a true old god and beating Azeroth in exchange for help was enough.

The sun had risen slightly when they reached Boralus, the harbor was slowly waking up and the workers were leaving their homes without knowing the things that happened that same night. Anduin couldn't help but be envious of so much innocence and nonchalance.

But after a while, on their way to the Proudmoore Keep, he saw Jaina. Anduin was surprised to see her there, he was sure she was still at sea, but she had already returned. He thought maybe she would yell at him for what he did and they were going to fight right there. But Jaina didn't move, just stared at him with a frown with all the mistrust in the world. Anduin felt the same way, he returned the same look, there would be time to argue. But now, with all the sadness in his heart, the most painful realization came to him.

They would never trust each other again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> F G'huun, the kid who never left home. A long time ago I saw a movie that talked about what was right or wrong to do in an experiment (especially when you create life) and I thought "surely the Titans didn't think about any of that" and that's why G'huun story stayed like this. But it's time to move forward, N'Zoth doesn't stop. This is the penultimate chapter of the first part, yes, this story is divided into three parts. It's incredible that the first one is going to finish, it seems that it was yesterday when I started to upload it and translate, time flies sometimes... But well, I'll say more next chapter. I hope you liked this and see you in the next one, take care!


	27. The hidden home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! I hope that you are well, and if not, I hope that everything improves soon. I bring a new chapter, the last of the first part. Don't expect big things, rather a character placement and leave everything ready for a very small jump in time, but it's one of those necessary chapters. I hope you like it ^^  
Sorry for grammar mistakes

Saying that there was tension, it wasn't enough. There were no word exchanges between those who went to Nazmir and those who didn't, sometimes they even seemed to avoid each other. The day after the fall of G’huun and the blood trolls was drenched in silence. Anduin thanked it deep down, he was sure that only discussions would take place and the anger would end up increasing, it was better if no one said anything and let the anger go less and less.

However, that morning when he woke up, they announced that an important meeting would take place after so much silence. The serious voice tone Genn used when communicating that it would be a meeting like the last one, with the same people, didn't convey much confidence. That only meant that everything would probably fall on Anduin’s shoulders no matter how much Genn and Tyrande defended him, since it was he himself who wanted to go to Nazmir. Anduin was very sure that day when he said those things, he was sure when he left the meeting and he didn't think about anything else when he embarked, but the young king didn't think about the moment when he would have to defend himself. This time it wouldn't be as simple as running away, and he wouldn't only have to defend himself, but also all those who went with him, he would have to face it and be willing to accept any punishment if necessary. In fact, he would accept anything in order to defend those who followed him.

The meeting would take place at noon, so Anduin had the whole morning almost free. Since he returned, he has been busy attending the wounded. Some of them were those who went to Nazmir and had superficial wounds, but the rest were sailors and soldiers who went to attack the fleet. Anduin calmed down a bit when he found out what really happened. They never attacked Dazar’alor, they only attacked the Zandalari fleet when they drove them to open sea. It wasn't a fight that lasted too long, witnesses claimed that Jaina razed the vast majority of ships on her own and some said that she was the most powerful magician in history. But they entered in combat a lot of times and many were wounded, so Anduin offered to help.

Velen was with him that morning. The day before, he was absent and the young king was working along with other Kul Tiras healers, but now they were alone. Velen didn't say a word, in silence and with an unusual calm, he attended the majority who visited. That made Anduin somewhat uncomfortable, so much silence was attacking his nerves. He didn't think Velen would hesitate to speak to him knowing that he retired the support for the attack on Dazar’alor. Anduin finished healing the leg of a Kul Tiras sailor, the poor man looked amazed at the result.

"Thank you very much, King Wrynn. May the tides bless you."

"Try to rest for a few days, do not make sudden movements. Before leaving, what is your name?"

"Embry Ulloa."

The sailor bowed and went away limping. Anduin crossed out the name on the list they gave him, that man was alive. In that list they crossed out the names of the survivors to later find out how many casualties there were and write condolence letters to the corresponding families. There weren't too many deaths, but enough to lower his spirits. Anduin was almost done, there was only one woman left with a few cuts on her arm. When he went to one of the cabinets to get some clean towels, he ran into Velen. The old draenei didn't pay much attention to him and continued with the small report in his hands. Without saying anything, Anduin took the towels, but dropped them on the table, tired of the situation.

"Are you mad at me?" asked the young king. Velen didn't turn around.

"No, there's no reason for that."

"So what's the problem? That I didn't say anything?" Velen looked at him at last.

"Perhaps it’s a problem for others, but it's not my case."

"And why do you behave like that if you aren't angry about what I did?"

"Is for you. There is something wrong with you." Anduin blinked in confusion.

"Wrong? What?"

"I think you stray from the path of Light." Anduin blinked even more confused.

"Stray...?"

"I know you have been dealing with shadows and that you used them. There was no problem at first, but I notice it more and more in you, more deeply rooted. I fear for you."

"I'm faithful to the Light, I would never turn my back on it. The Void may try to reach me, but I will never become his servant."

"And I hope it is so." Velen placed his hand on Anduin's shoulder and then pointed to the heart. "But I can see it inside you. Be careful, Anduin."

Velen walked away, leaving Anduin frowning deeply. What he said left Anduin worried, Velen was one of the most devout and powerful servants of the Light, his affinity to it was even bigger than Anduin's. If the old draenei was able to feel that, it was logical to think he was right. For some time, the young king had noticed it many times; the frequent whispers, loss of control and a voice that always stood out from the rest, forcing him to do things that he never even considered. Maybe it was true, there was something wrong with him and Anduin didn't realize it.  
  
After healing his last patient, Anduin went to his room. He must write some letters of condolences, especially for the poor worgen who died consumed by the shadows. He knew that he had a young daughter, now an orphan, to whom they had to give compensation and find a place for her to live. Anduin didn't think much of it when he asked for a place in the Stormwind's orphanage, he hoped that there would still be free places since, in these times, orphans increased in number.

Once he was done with that task, he went out for air. The weather was partly cloudy and there was a very comfortable air. Anduin took some butter cookies and headed to the Stormsong Monastery. He knew that Wrathion was there because Leo requested and wanted to speak to him. He needed to talk to someone who wouldn't say something extremely burdensome or gloomy, the dragon didn’t come to breakfast and Anduin hadn't seen him since the previous afternoon. Wrathion had to hide a bit from the others as he was the most acclaimed head apart from Anduin's for what happened.

There weren't too many Tidesages in the Monastery, it was as if they had been given the day off or were busy working somewhere. After courteously greeting some Tidesages along the way, he saw Wrathion sitting on a bench. Anduin tried to approach from behind and scare him, but before reaching him, the dragon looked back and started to laugh slightly. Anduin sighed, maybe he was loud or Wrathion had the 'presence detector' very high. The young king sat next to him as he offered the butter cookies, but Wrathion hesitated.

"If you like it you can eat them all."

"You haven't come to breakfast and I doubt that you have eaten anything since the Light knows when. Eat." Anduin offered again, but Wrathion didn't move, so he split one in half. "Is it okay like this? Half and half?"

"Alright." he finally gave up and took half.

"How is your arm? Better than yesterday?"

"Yes, I hardly notice any pangs of pain anymore."

"I'm surprised that dragons recover so quickly."

They both settled into the bench and talked while eating the cookies. Anduin told him about the meeting, and like the previous one, Wrathion was unable to come. But the dragon told him to remain calm when speaking. He didn't consider that he had done something wrong, and if someone told him something like that he shouldn't make such personal decisions on his own, he could fight back with the same argument, nobody was free of guilt. Anduin also told him what Velen said and how much he's worried.

"Maybe he's right." Anduin said with a lost look. "Lately I have noticed weird things in me, and the predominant voice in my head speaks more and more."

"Has your connection to the Light been affected?"

"Not that I know, the Light comes to me as always, but I'm worried."

"Velen may be wrong and you're getting scared for nothing."

"Velen is the most closely related to the Light that I know, he knows what he's talking about, I doubt he's wrong about this. If he could see the Light in me before my training started, he can see how I twist myself along the way."

"I may not know you as Velen, he's your mentor and he has known you for many years, but I don't think it will consume you." Wrathion poked Anduin’s forehead softly with one finger. "I wouldn't let you."

"Thank you." Anduin rubbed his forehead smiling when he saw Leo out of the corner of his eye. He was wearing some clothes belonging to the Tidesages apprentices and ran happily towards them.

"Anduin!" Leo arrived waving.

"Hello, Leo, I was already wondering where you were."

"I had to order some scrolls that I left wrong, but I didn't know they were in that order!"

"Well, if you already put them right there’s nothing to regret. How is your training?"

"It's okay, I've learned a lot, Pike is a good teacher."

"I see that your arm is already well." Leo moved his arms as if trying to fly.

"Nothing hurts." now that Anduin was looking, Leo looked much better in general. "I already know how to make the storm, Wrathion, I'll show you." seeing Anduin's confused face, he explained. "I'm going to create a black cloud that emits lightning and thunder and makes it rain a lot."

"Let's see that cloud." Wrathion said.

Leo walked a few meters away and raised his arms in half. He concentrated as much as he could and channeled the Tidesage's own magic. A small gray cloud no larger than his head began to materialize in front of Leo. When his concentration dropped, he frowned. It seemed that he wasn't satisfied and tried to force, but the cloud didn't change and released a small spark inside.

"Wow!" Wrathion exclaimed. "I have noticed a cramp of that storm running through my body." Wrathion laughed lightly and Anduin looked at him frowning. He wanted to tell him not to use the sarcastic tone because Leo looked disappointed in himself, but he just kicked him.

"You're on the right track, Leo." Anduin said, the little one looked at him. "We all started doing these little things. Keep practicing, surely you will make a hurricane one day."

Leo smiled. He sat on the ground trying to create more clouds not much larger than the first until he was called. The little boy waved goodbye and got lost among some buildings. Anduin kicked Wrathion again but softer.

"What are you doing?" Wrathion asked, smiling.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you laughing at him instead of encouraging him?"

"It was just a joke, and I was laughing with him."

"Are you blind? Can't you see he was trying to impress you?" Wrathion frowned.

"And why would he want to impress me?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Wrathion looked sideways. "You're his hero!"

"What?" Wrathion looked at him confused, but he looked for something in Anduin's eyes. "Alright, what did you take today?"

"It's not a joke, he himself told me yesterday between the lines in a very shy and almost adorable way. He admires you."

"And why would he have me as a hero?"

"Because you're the one who goes around fighting against old gods and has enormous power."

"So what? Many do, I'm not a hero."

"The vast majority of children have one, and you have the profile for it." Anduin hesitated. "What you told me the other day, that you were just another monster, do you really think that about yourself?" Wrathion said nothing, but his eyes conveyed enough, of course he did. Before Anduin said anything, the bell rang indicating that noon had arrived. "Shit... the meeting." the young king got up.

"You should be his hero. Anyone can fight against old gods, but dealing with what you have to endure every day few can do." Anduin shook his head.

"Come eat with us this time after the meeting, and don't  stand me up ."

Anduin had to walk fast, although he didn't feel like arguing at all. It seemed incredible to him that Wrathion thought that. How could he consider that doing all that could be done by anyone? The small victory in Uldir belonged only to Wrathion, he did it all while the others just watched without knowing what to do. Zek’voz, Mythrax and G’huun only fell by the dragon’s hand, without him they would still be alive. It was more than fighting old gods what he did, it wasn't comparable to anything else happening in the world.

Anduin sighed, deep down he also admired Wrathion like Leo, he also thought he was a hero.

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Although Anduin thought he was late, it turned out that it was the others who were late. He only found Falstad, Gelbin and Velen when he arrived. No one said much except for the classic greetings. Genn and Mathias arrived shortly after, both with worried faces. Genn gestured for Anduin to come closer. It turned out that Mathias had a new report from Zuldazar and brought fresh news about the Horde. When Anduin heard it all, he sighed wearily, these news didn't catch him by surprise. The other leaders and listeners arrived in a short time in a hurry, it seemed that they were all forced to come despite them all insisting on the need to do this. Anduin thought that nothing good would come from this meeting. When he met Jaina's gaze, he kept seeing mistrust in her eyes, but they also conveyed a big indifference. As soon as the door closed and the meeting started, anyone would say that you could pick up a scissor and cut the tension in the air.

"How were your getaway in the middle of the night?" Turalyon asked.

"Very well, how was you toying with ships in the middle of the night?" Genn asked. Turalyon frowned slightly.

"That went wonderfully well for us." Jaina replied. "We have weakened the Zandalaris and thereby secure our borders for a long time. We are safer and we won a victory in this war, we have contributed to it more than  you all  this time, you have only  hindered the plans . We would have even more advantage if you had followed us, but of course, you had to go  against the flow ."

"We would all be dead if we had not gone to Uldir." Anduin said. "Zek’voz was a herald of N’Zoth, a commander with access to the stored information of the Titans, was defeated in Uldir. Mythrax, a legendary C’Thraxxi that lives up to its legend, capable of razing a nation if it wants, defeated at Uldir. And lastly, G’huun, an almost old god who, if he came out of Uldir once the Horde retreated and killed Zul, would have made the entire planet an uninhabitable place, we would have rotted and died. Those three would have been freed if it wasn't for us. All credit goes to Wrathion of course, but he needed our help."

"And that's fine, we would have taken care of them anyway, the point is that we could have killed the Zandalaris two days ago. We would have gone to Uldir as soon as we took care of that matter, there was plenty of time."

"You don't know that! You also don't know if that attack, even if we had all gone, would have really doomed them." Anduin looked at Mathias. "Tell them what you just told me."

"I have new information from my spies in Zuldazar." Mathias began. "There is big anger in the Zandalaris  because of the naval attack, the loss of the fleet has affected them to the point of seeking revenge. One of the guards who was captured said something like 'cowards who attack from behind’, that attacking when they were  away seemed  dishonorable . The Horde obviously supports them, and by order of Talanji and Sylvanas they are already building more ships, this time reinforced with Azerite. They advance at overwhelming speed.

"That attack didn't help much." Anduin said looking down. "A short period of peace maybe, but nothing more. When they attack again, and they will for sure, they will catch us naked. I doubt they are stupid enough to attack by sea knowing that the Kul Tiras fleet is powerful, they will come to our doorsteps on foot and... they have many more units than we do. I hope you can deal with that."

"Come on," said Alleria with disdain. "can someone like Princess Talanji really reunite-"

"Queen," Anduin corrected at once. "Queen Talanji. And the Zandalari people will do what she says, and if I remember correctly, they adore her."

"Many doubt Talanji too." Jaina countered. "She is not Rastakhan, she lacks much caution and will drag the Horde with her, that is a big advantage for us."

"Remind me that when they attack us."

"What do you want to do?" Turalyon asked, tired, suddenly. "We are not well here, everyone is doing what they want. The attack on Dazar’alor was approved, the escape to Uldir never was, you should answer for it. You don't listen to the democracy we have, do you prefer the Horde system and that everyone does what one says? Or that we make personal decisions without asking?"

Anduin frowned, he didn't like that he was attacking with that argument. Everyone  go ing separate ways ? The Void's voice came back to him once more, rolling through his thoughts.

_Say it. Speak up your mind, why don't you tell them what you think?_

Anduin struck the table with his right hand suddenly, catching everyone's eyes. It wasn't his intention to draw attention, what he wanted was for the voice to be silent. With the silence, he decided to speak.

"I just wanted you all to think beyond." Anduin sighed. "Beyond revenge. Yes, we decided to ignore the decision that was democratically chosen that day, it was my decision, I'm so sorry, I never wanted to do something like that, but you left me no other choice. There was an imminent danger and I had to do something, sorry, I will not do it again, I will not look beyond if that pleases you all so much."

Anduin added a certain ironic voice tone at the end, more provocation than sincerity and he didn't know why. That voice was really having fun, after saying that, he heard a laugh. Jaina propped an elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand, looking at Anduin without expression.

"Do you prefer that everyone  goes separate ways ?" she asked curious ly . The first thing that went through Anduin's head was a 'yes', but he bit his tongue, remaining silent, it wasn't a good idea to say it.

"That won't do us any good." Tyrande said suddenly. "If we each go our own way, we will condemn ourselves. The problem there has been is that we do not understand each other. These past few months have been crazy and a nightmare, attacks and losses everywhere. Each of us has our own way of seeing things an d proceed ing , we are very different and we have not taken the time to explain ourselves, or we do not have enough empathy. So... I want to propose something." everyone paid attention. "We need to give ourselves some time. We cannot continue like this, breaking all ties that united us in a war like this. The Horde will probably not do anything in a while, so we should breathe in and out at the same time and leave our fights behind, strengthen ing the ties that we have slowly broken. Yes, that you destroyed the Zandalari fleet was very good, nobody will deny it and we all thank you. But what we did in Nazmir was just as necessary and no one even thanked us." 

"For my part, you have my eternal gratitude for it." said Velen. "Although we should not make secret decisions on our own and conspire. We are a unit, let's behave as such."

"For now, since the Horde will not attack for a while, we will have time to secure and fortify our neglected borders. We have a large open war front in Arathi and, according to Moira's latest letter, they are at the gates of Ar’gorok, the land could be ours in no time. I will leave for Arathi with all my army and we will secure the place at once since Anduin kindly decided to give it to our people and Gilneas as a temporary home." Tyrande looked at Genn. "That includes you too."

"Yes..." Genn said with a nod. "You are right."

"Just a little thing." Jaina intervened. "I want a big apology from the person who decided to go to Nazmir, I just want that." Anduin closed his eyes. It was okay, it was just faking regret even though he didn't really feel it. He rose from the chair.

"I formally apologize for it. I acknowledge being responsible for the plan and I'm sorry, I will not do it again."

"It was not the dragon that organized everything?" Anduin had to keep his expression.

"Not quite. He made movements, but I was who asked him to make them, he just followed my plan." Jaina narrowed her eyes, not very convinced, but ended up sighing and got up too.

"I accept your apologies, and I agree with Arathi, you have my support. You can stay in Kul Tiras as long as you need too, my house is your house."

Jaina turned around and left the room, she didn't seem very convinced, but Anduin thought that maybe she didn't want to make a mountain out of a  molehill and just wanted to forget the situation. He thought the same thing, he was tired of this type of meetings and Tyrande was right to propose all that, the tension between leaders had to disappear if they wanted to win and survive,  every man for himself would never work.

Anduin had to make more individual apologies for Alleria and Turalyon, they forgave him in the same way as Jaina, with the same distrust, but Anduin didn't mind it. He just did what was expected of him, he didn't think they would trust him no matter how much he apologized. Tess, who was a listener, gave him a little hug when it was all over, an understanding one that meant the end of these meetings. Genn wrapped his arms around their shoulders and went together to the kitchens to eat.

When they entered the kitchens, they saw that Mia had prepared a table overflowing with food. Dereck and Wrathion were waiting for them too, at least the dragon didn't disappear. If there was something that didn't change, it was Anduin's appetite, it wasn't even five seconds in when he started to take food everywhere and gobble it up. Genn explained above to those who didn't attend the meeting what was discussed in it.

"Tyrande sent you all on vacation?" Wrathion asked wryly.

"Something like that." Genn replied after taking a glass of water. "But the more I think about it, the better that decision seems to me. We have a lot of mistrust issues now, it's better to let some time go by while we do something profitable, like winning the Arathi front. These quarrels between us have lasted too long, we better not have clashes of ideas for a while."

"You aren't a very close Alliance after all." Anduin pinched Wrathion just below the ribs. "I say it with my best intention."

"Historically these things have always happened, Wrathion." Mia said.

"I know, I was trying to tease Anduin." the named looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Tyrande has asked me for collaboration for the last push in Arathi." Genn said to Mia. "I'll be away for a while on the battlefield. It could be a temporary home for some."

"Well, I imagined it would end up happening." Mia caressed Genn's cheek. "But be careful."

"Always."

"Anduin," the young king looked at Mia. "since you’re not as close to Jaina now, you could try doing her a favor. I can guide you with a problem in Kul Tiras."

"What is it about?" asked curious Anduin.

"Katherine explained to me yesterday that there's a problem in Drustvar."

"Drustvar? The Drust left, didn't they?"

"It has nothing to do with it. Apparently there  was a series of strange disappearances in the area and nobody manages to find them, they're very worried and the head of the Waycrest house has asked for extra help. Maybe you could help and do that favor for Jaina."

"Well... I could take a look, but I promise nothing."

"Anduin goes from king to detective in a moment." Wrathion said smiling, Anduin looked at him with a half smile. "Hey, I trust your detective skills."

"I don't know if I want to help with it to start..."

"And why not?" Mia asked, confused.

"It's that... Jaina doesn't care that I apologized and has calmed down just for convenience, I know her, I know."

"I've never seen you being spiteful."

"I'm not spiteful, it's something that I have noticed. The Nazmir thing was a success and not thanks to them and I have only heard Velen saying thank you. And not happy with that, I had to apologize for it. It's not fair." Genn got up.

"Well, that's how it is, Anduin. At least they haven't retaliated as I thought, it has been left in a 'sorry and thanks' and the truth is that it could be much worse. I'm going to be away for a while, I don't want you to complicate things, did you hear me? I don't want to hear that you're in trouble." Anduin looked away.

"I won't do anything."

Genn put his plate away and prepared to leave, he had to meet with Tyrande to organize the final assault on Arathi. Mia also got up to accompany him and see if he would be safe on the battlefield as she used to do lately. Anduin, Wrathion, Tess and Dereck were left alone finishing eating. Wrathion lightly brushed Anduin's temple in a line.

"Look, I see your rebellious vein around here." Anduin pulled him away smiling.

"I'm not rebellious."

"I have come to think that you would say 'I will do what I want'." Dereck said.

"It's just that there are certain attitudes that have made me mad at the meeting."

"And you both weren't in the meeting." Tess said. "When Jaina asked if you preferred that each one be on his own, I was seeing how you contained yourself saying yes very loudly. I almost thought you would."

"I didn't want to say that..." Anduin placed his hand on his mouth to prevent his smile from being seen.

"Of course you wanted to! Look how he's trying to hide the smile, I know you, you know?"

"Aw, you're even turning red, how adorable..." Wrathion said.

"Enough, enough." Anduin denied with his arms avoiding looking at them, he was embarrassed.

"One thing," Tess pushed her plate away. "there's something Dereck and I want to tell you."

"Don't tell me you're going to get married." Wrathion said.

"What? No, no! Nothing of that." Tess took a drink of water. "What we wanted to say, rather ask, is there still that vacancy to be guardians?" Anduin blinked in surprise.

"Do you want to join us?"

"The truth is that we hardly trust the others after everything that has happened, and we would like to be on the side that we believe to be more correct."

"We want to fight to protect Azeroth." Dereck said. "The Horde... doesn't seem so much compared to what we have seen in Uldir. And well, if that was Uldir, I can't imagine what horrible things will be out there."

"Are you sure... sure?" Anduin was open-mouthed.

"Yes," replied Tess. "well, if you still want us to join." Anduin looked at Wrathion, expecting something.

"Why do you always look at me for these things?" asked the dragon laughing.

"Well, because I agree that they join, but if you have something to say, I want to hear it."

"I don't have any problem." Anduin got up and opened his arms.

"Welcome to the Guardians of Azeroth!"

"I was expecting a ritual." Tess said jokingly. "Now speaking very seriously, we have a gift, an offering because you let us join, if you want to call it that."

"What is it about?"

"The day you told us about it, do you remember that we realized that Anduin was being watched because the other leaders thought he was conspiring?" Anduin nodded. "I told you that you needed somewhere to meet where you wouldn't be disturbed... Dereck and I found a place that we could use."

"A secret place to meet?" Wrathion said. "That’s a nice detail..."

"Would it be like a secret base?" Asked Anduin enthusiastically. "I always wanted one!"

"It's an uninhabited house in the middle of the forest on the outskirts of Boralus." Dereck said. "It's a little hidden and nobody passes by, Tess and I discovered it while we were walking, it's a good place to meet."

"I accept that gift." Wrathion said, Anduin nodded in agreement.

"Yes... it's a good place..." Tess said somehow mysterious. "There's only one small inconvenience..."

"It won't be a problem!" Anduin assured. "We will do whatever."

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As they said, Tess and Dereck guided Wrathion and Anduin out of Boralus. By the northern part of the harbor, passing by a herbalism, there was a path that went up towards the mountain. It wasn't a way that people often used, judging by the state of the road, and it led through a cliff where below they had a small forest, they passed by the side of the mountain.

The small forest looked dingy, there were cobwebs wrapped around several trees and there was a thin layer of mist around. Dereck commented that he was sent in a couple of missions around the place when the collaboration with Kul Tiras began. Apparently the area was covered with spiders, witches and some Drust, but when the coven fell on Drustvar, its influence disappeared and the place was abandoned. The only thing that had to be done was to eliminate the spiders.

Anduin realized  they w ere near the  Algerson Lumber Yard , across the river. As soon as they went up a slight hill, they saw the house. It wasn't in a bad place, although the fog was still there, the house was close to the river and a waterfall, but then Anduin realized the inconvenience Tess was referring to. It was a two  floor house and needed some renovations, especially the roof. In addition, it transmitted an evil aura due to the witches’ stuff and the blood on the walls, the house was full of it.

"Well, home sweet home." Tess said. "It needs some fixing but it's still charming."

"Charming?" Wrathion said ironically. "I would have said enchanted because at least five ghosts, one lich and a couple of goblins must live here."

"Witchcraft things can be removed and blood is removed by rubbing. You just have to fix the roof."

"No one said any of this..." Anduin said, taking a step back very slowly.

"The Algerson Lumber Yard is very close, if we transport some planks everything will be solved." both Wrathion and Anduin took a step back, but Tess and Dereck grabbed them.

"Where are you going?" Dereck asked smiling.

"You said 'we will do whatever'." Wrathion looked at Anduin frowning.

"Yes, but..." Anduin sighed. "Okay, where do we start?"

"Well..." Tess was thoughtful for a few seconds. "You two could go to the Lumber Yard and buy some planks for the ceiling and we're going to remove the sinister things and the blood. I guess you have money, Anduin." the young king nodded.

"Let me see how big the ceiling is first." Wrathion said.

The dragon, with two jumps on the wall, reached the ceiling and observed it closely. It didn't seem like they needed more than three long planks, which they could also cut in half. With that in mind, Anduin and Wrathion went down to the Lumber Yard. They were quite close to the place, they only had to go down the road after crossing the stream near the house. Many lumberjacks in the place recognized Anduin and greeted him kindly, the young king returned the greetings with a smile. The chief of the place looked surprised when they crossed the door of the office. After the exchange of polite greetings, Anduin made the demand. The chief took the request instantly and assured them that in a few minutes they could take the order with several nails and a hammer as a gift. Anduin had to pay every last gold coin he had for the wood. The thought of going down to Vaderia and buying drinks faded from his mind, though Wrathion whispered that he could go and steal them, but one nudge from Anduin was enough for him not to.

About five minutes later, the order was waiting outside the office. The chief asked them if they needed help on transporting, but Wrathion could carry everything with ease. After exchanging kind words, Anduin and Wrathion carried everything back to the house.

It wasn't a big physical effort, although Anduin grabbed on one side, he didn't have to make force because the dragon did it all. Tess and Dereck removed much of the trash around the house at the time, now they were trying to get the blood off the walls. Wrathion asked Anduin to cut the wood after giving him the measurements, in the meantime, he would cast a protective spell around the house so that no one would ever see them there.

The more time he spent sawing, the more Anduin's arms ached, he had to take off his jacket and be left alone with his shirt on. Despite all this exhaustion, he had to admit that he would rather be there doing manual labor, as if he was an ordinary citizen, than attending all the tedious meetings of the crown or Alliance leaders and being filled with worries and anger. He had never tried the taste of doing manual things for himself, and he was afraid he liked it so much that he would never want to go back to waiting for people to do it for him. Normally he never had the luxury of having time to do these things himself, which is why he liked it so much now.

"Anduin!" Wrathion called him. "Come one moment!"

Anduin put down the last wooden plank and approached the dragon. As he spent several minutes casting spells around the house, Anduin assumed he was over and needed a second opinion.

"Do you want me to check if it works?" asked Anduin.

"Yes. Do you see this black line on the grass?" Anduin looked, saw that black line on the grass and nodded. "It's supposed to only be seen from this side, if you cross it, you won't see it, neither the line nor any of us."

"Would you all be invisible to me?"

"Yes, the only thing you will see it's the house but in ruins. Try it."

Tess and Dereck stared curiously after hearing him saying that. Anduin hesitated at first. He thought that perhaps he would feel something strange when crossing the line, but he trusted that Wrathion knew what he was doing. In one step, he crossed to the other side. As soon as he turned around, he was extremely surprised. He didn't see Wrathion or anyone else, only the house in ruins.

"Wow! It works!" he exclaimed, surprised. Hands suddenly came out in front of him and pulled him inside again. Wrathion smiled at him.

"Illusion magic. Do you like it?"

"It's amazing, it's great." Anduin left one foot outside and inside the circle and, from the outside, only half of his body was visible. "Look! I'm half invisible!" Dereck also approached to play with the magic going from one place to another with Anduin.

"It has a trick, it will only affect the four of us."

"Affect? What happens if someone approaches other than us?" Tess asked from behind.

"It would be strange for someone to approach a house in ruins, but if someone does, they will start to feel nauseous as they get closer to the point where it will become unbearable. In other words, I have created an illusion and a trap."

"Isn't it over the top?" Dereck asked.

"Secrets must be protected. The barrier will read our 'magic code',  if you want to call it that , and will let us in without side effects."

"Seems right." Anduin said. "It really is a secret base."

Anduin went on with the idea that it was a secret base, although he felt like a kid for saying that, it gave him a certain emotion that he hadn't felt in a long time. After he finished refining the spell, Wrathion helped Anduin place the wooden planks on the ceiling. Anduin climbed up an unsure looking stairs, Wrathion passed the planks from the ground to the young king. The hole was large and they had to cover it carefully, but the dragon was sure of what he was doing and they both began to hammer the wood into place.

They spent the whole afternoon in the place, the sunset bathed everything in orange without realizing the passage of time. Dereck went down to Vaderia to buy some drinks and relax. Tess decided to take a break with Dereck once he came back while they drank Aurora Borealis. Anduin and Wrathion were almost finished laying the last plank and decided not to stop as they might relax too much and not finish their task.

"This house reminds me of my home in Gilneas." Dereck said to Tess. "Small, but a home."

"The houses on the outskirts of the urban nucleus used to be like that, true."

"And I’m from a numerous family, imagine, all inside with little space. But the truth is that we didn't need anything else, only us were enough."

"Do you think we should live in such a house someday?" Dereck looked at Tess in surprise, but soon began to blush at the comment.

"A little forward, don't you think? Even so, you will always have better options."

"I think you hold yourself in very low esteem."

"I already told you that you could have something better." Dereck got up. "You're the princess of Gilneas! And royal blood runs through your veins. I'm just a nobody, there's nothing special about me, I don't think I'm a good option."

"That idea, when I was little, made sense since it was what I had to think. But once you get older and see things in perspective, all that matters absolutely nothing. Once, in Gilneas, I was told that affection was desirable, but money and status were indispensable. Do you know what it's like to be tied to something like that throughout your childhood and adolescence? Knowing that you will surely share your life with someone you don't love?"

"I think not…"

"Because you're free to choose, I couldn't. People come to you out of pure interest, ask Anduin how it feels if you want more details. But underneath all that, I thought, if I love someone and this person loves me back, I would do whatever it took to make it work." Tess stood up and stood in front of Dereck. "If you love me like I love you, no problem, I always wanted that."

"I doubt myself, what if you think I'm more than I really am? What if I'm not up to it?"

Tess blinked, it was something she didn't expect to hear. Dereck already made his doubts clear when they talked about it, the problem he had was about himself, it was never because of Tess. The footprint his childhood left him was what other children told him, that he was poor, and someone like that would never be enough. But that wasn't something that would throw Tess back, she would make him understand that all of that could be forgotten. Tess took Dereck's face in her hands and kissed him without saying anything. Dereck didn't move at all at first, but relaxing into the kiss, he hugged Tess around the waist. When they separated, they looked at each other smiling, waiting for someone to say something.

"I would have gone to an inn." Wrathion said. They both looked up, Anduin and Wrathion were looking as if they were witnessing a play. Tess picked up a stone and threw it at both of them.

"Get back to your work!"

"We're on a break." Anduin said. Tess grabbed a long stick and tried to hit them.

"Out. Away."

Tess gave light blows to the legs of both to dr a w them away. Anduin got up and grabbed Wrathion by the arm trying to carry him away. The joke was fine at first, but now they were  being a nuisance . They still had to secure a plank of wood. Anduin chuckled as soon as they were apart.

"I guess I'm not going to hear Tess with her inner drama of whether she should tell him or not."

"Since when does it happen?"

"A few years ago. I don't understand how she hasn't been able to tell him until now." Wrathion chuckled lightly.

"It's normal. You have never fallen in love with someone, have you?"

"Well, no."

"Then you won't understand."

"If I love someone, I would say it, what's the point of keeping it for yourself?"

"There may be many reasons that make you reconsider it. When it happens to you and you see a minimum inconvenience, you will see. Sometimes your innocence amazes me." Anduin sighed.

"They all tell me the same thing, is my 'innocent' opinion so annoying? Do you want me to change?"

"No," Wrathion looked at Anduin with a soft smile. "don't ever change."

Anduin merely cocked his head in confusion, a gesture that amused Wrathion. But it was true, for nothing in the world he would let Anduin be different. That he had a touch of innocence was what made him special, and seeing his confused reactions to hints that escaped him was even better. Someday he would realize those things, of course, but he would continue with that aura of innocence, and that was something the dragon liked very much. Wrathion recognized deep down that he was very happy to know that Anduin had never fallen in love, it wasn't as if he thought he had a free way, but knowing that he hadn't experienced these sensations made the dragon naively think that perhaps Anduin could discover them with him, although Wrathion's most rational part told him it would never happen.

Night was falling when they finished with the heavy part. The house was fine, although there were many things upstairs, but that would be for another occasion, now they were tired. They sat on the clean porch to rest and chat for a while while having a cold drink.

"I have realized that it is good that you are on 'vacation'." Wrathion said.

"Why?" Dereck asked.

"Right now the situation is difficult against N’Zoth. We have to find Azshara, but it's almost impossible to locate Nazjatar and it will be something that will take us a long time."

"It's in the sea, right? We have ships, we could search."

"Do you know how big the sea is? And that only counting the surface, Nazjatar is at the bottom, which is even more space. None of this will be easy."

"Not to mention that, apart from Azshara, there was also another possessed, right?" Anduin said.

"Seriously?" Tess asked confused.

"It's true." Wrathion admitted. "But I don't know who is and could be anywhere, is someone who has been under control for years."

"Well," Tess said with a sigh. "step by step. I think N’Zoth will also take a vacation after that loss at Uldir, it will give us time to think."

"I wouldn't trust it. N’Zoth never stops, he's already planning his next move, if he hasn't  done it already …"

"Let's be a little optimistic," said Anduin. "everything will be calm for a while, about N’Zoth and the Horde."

"I hope." Wrathion sighed. "But it's good that we have this house. If something goes wrong or goes too far, we will have a place to hide, or hide something."

"Yes," Dereck said cheerfully. "and if we end up clearing the top floor we could even sleep here."

"While we make plans or not," Tess said as she filled the four glasses of Aurora Borealis. "how about a toast for our company?"

"I don't like alcohol, but for once..." Anduin said, taking his glass. Dereck and Wrathion took it too.

"For the Guardians of Azeroth!" Dereck said as they hit the glasses.

"For all the world!" Tess said.

"No matter what comes," Anduin said. "we will never be alone."

Wrathion's hand trembled upon hearing that and he became extremely serious. The others realized this, but the dragon smiled in an attempt to hide it and, in one gulp, left the glass empty. They decided to stay a while longer before dinner. Anduin explained things to them that he only shared with Wrathion such as that it was the mysterious possessed who burned Teldrassil and not the Horde, that N’Zoth had a mole near the Alliance or his problems with the Void lately. Tess and Dereck were surprised by the revelations, but they became quite involved by saying that they would investigate or support Anduin with the problem.

Wrathion stared. It was all very strange, it seemed that he had a group of friends, something that he never counted on. Although they didn't reject him now, he felt uncomfortable. Wrathion was very different from them, he didn't think he really fit. If they knew the things he did they would probably run away. How could he be so close to them but at the same time feel extremely isolated from those he could consider friends? The answer came quickly: all his talks with N’Zoth for years were etched in his mind.

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That stupid dragon was getting too strong. N’Zoth believed that he mentally destroyed him long ago, he knew it was so. But she meddled and helped Wrathion to move on. Back then, Wrathion seemed to be somewhat fine, even with the things that happened to him. The wound that Sargeras left and the burning of Teldrassil were the biggest points, N’Zoth regretted not being part of one of them, but they were hard axes for Wrathion, he could see it in his dreams. N'Zoth had to admit that he admired the courage and persistence of the dragon, the way he found help and later ended Uldir's plan impressed him. For those things the dragon was his favorite being on the planet. But the game had become very simple between them, and if he fell for simple plans, she or the dragon could anticipate and get away with it. He had to change the focus drastically, manipulate them from the shadows, not take such desperate actions, make them pay attention to other matters, the other times he did that it worked. That's why now he had to meet with his two biggest contacts, both of whom had been demanding him for a few days, but N'Zoth didn't want to please them so soon, they would only speak when he wanted.

In dreams everything was possible, the city was still sleeping and he was the dreamer. He couldn't physically see them, but he knew they were there, their voices sounding like distant echoes in his head.

"Your plan with the immature G’huun has failed." a male voice said in an agonized whisper.

"It was not a bad idea, it was the dragon that I did not see coming." N’Zoth admitted.

"Well you should have, it was a waste of time. Although I thank you for the deaths."

"Patience, it is not long before everything tilts in my favor, you will all have your part."

"The dragon was not alone." said a very soft female voice. "You said that he would never be able to find allies."

"And I would like to know how long they will last. Sooner or later, they will know the truth."

"What if they find out and don't care?" said the male voice.

"It won't be a problem, I know what to do. I know what attitudes to modify... And most importantly, I know who I should personally attack now. The research I did has been successful."

"Will that slow the dragon down? Or her? Or will it benefit only you?" asked the woman.

"The answer to all three questions is yes."

"I have considered breaking our deal when Uldir fell." said the man.

"After all I have given you and how much you fed? You disappoint me." N’Zoth added a dramatic tone of disappointment.

"A matter of trust, I'm afraid. Right now I don't trust much."

"And if I do you a favor, would you be more willing?"

"I came with that intention."

"Explain to me." it was just a dirty job, N’Zoth thought, it wasn't the first time and he knew it would happen.

"There is someone who must die, has been hoarding souls for a long time and begins to annoy. If you take care of this being, our deal will remain intact, this time forever." N’Zoth smiled to himself.

"Very well, who do you want to see dead?"

END OF PART 1: A divided world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the end of the first part. What to say about the second one? Well, it will start smoothly with a little adventure and then... things will turn very dark. Yes, prepare for when that part arrives, things will get difficult... Hey, but at least there will be more Wranduin uwu. Speaking of Wranduin, at first I thought I wouldn't give much focus to it, in fact in this first part there aren't too many things, but when I was writing the second I realized that there is a lot. It's not a negative thing of course, more like beware for many interactions that I'm excited to write, yes, prepare for the agony because it will be slow (I'm trying to make the most agonizing slow burn ever).  
It will take a little to update the next one, lately I have been burned with many things and I haven't been able to write the chapter I'm really at, there in chaper 39, yes, there's a long way to get there, but at the speed I'm updating I don't want to leave this not updated for a month :S Think that the process is: I write it in spanish, sent to a friend for mistakes, correct it, then translate, ask to my contact for things I don't know and then update, that's a lot of time.  
You can follow me on twitter and yell about Wranduin: @llStonesll  
Anyway, we will see each other in the next part, I hope that with everything that happens in the real world you will be okay, hugs!


	28. The blockade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! We start the second part of this fic. I know it took me a while to update, I was discouraged and didn't feel like it, but here we're again.  
It's a chapter a little to put in situation before taking action, it's not a very loaded chapter but it's necessary. I hope you like it anyway.

**PART 2: N'Zoth's game**

When Wrathion joked about them being on vacation, they truly thought it was a joke. But time showed that they were on a vacation for real. A month and a half passed from that decision Tyrande made and not much happened except for Arathi. Anduin was very happy when he received the news that they won the war front. The influence of the Horde on the Eastern Kingdoms, especially in the north, was completely fading. The only thing left standing was the home of the blood elves, Silvermoon was still protected by Lor’themar and they had no intention of leaving their home. It wasn't something that worried too much for now. The only time the leaders met they talked about Silvermoon and what they should do. After a couple of discussions, they agreed to keep the place under surveillance, they wouldn't let any blood elf leave Silvermoon without someone from the Alliance seeing them. In the future, if things went well, they might take the city, but that would only depend on how much weakened the Horde could be.

Arathi became Alliance territory and, as Anduin offered in its day, the lands were filled with night elves and Gilneans. It was a slow but very profitable move for the entire Alliance, cities like Stormwind and Ironforge stopped having overpopulation. Basic resources, like food, were also regulated. Elves and Gilneans were put to work as they began to occupy Arathi, contributing to get primary resources and the Azerite they found. The Wildhammer dwarves of the nearby lands were freed from the presence of the Horde and contributed to the small cause, something that accelerated commercial development. Many jobs with good conditions arose and the representatives of the workers relaxed, the only complaint was wages. No one could do anything about it, the war took most of the money and everyone had to accept that, until the war was over, the situation wouldn't change.

Tyrande stayed in Arathi the entire time, rarely going to Stormwind or Kul Tiras. She insisted on helping her people to find a home and settle down, she was also a big moral support for the elves. If she helped to see that everything was fine, the rest calmed down. Genn on the other hand didn't stay too long in Arathi. He helped with the march of his people to the new home, but once they arrived, Genn decided to leave room for them. If something happened, his people would tell Tyrande and the elf would pass the message to Genn. The old wolf returned to Anduin's side to help him.

Anduin appreciated the help, he had a lot of work in all that time. He had to make a double effort to gain the trust of the leaders again after everything that happened. Every day he had at least one helping task, especially with Jaina. The Horde didn't take defeat in Arathi well, so in response to the loss of territory, they didn't stop sending small raiding parties through Kul Tiras, the place closest to Zandalar. Anduin personally went to the attacked places with Jaina and a combined group of Alliance races to stop them. The small harbors and towns attacked were helped instantly, they had to return the material losses. The worst part was when people die, it was the only thing they couldn't return and what they most blamed. Phrases like 'you should have come earlier' or 'you cannot protect everything forever' soaked in anger of the moment were very common, Anduin was the one who endured them the most.

The only positive thing about all this was that Jaina ended up relaxing over time, stopped looking at Anduin angrily and even thanked him for the help. But deep down, Anduin knew that she did it because the demands of her people were much bigger, if this didn't happen, he wasn't sure if she would forgive him. Even so, he didn't want to bother with it either and he ended up conforming.

Anduin also traveled many times to Stormwind at the demands of the nobles or the church. They all asked him to come over once in a while just to ask favors. The young king didn't know which he preferred more, tedious gatherings in Stormwind or fight and kill in Kul Tiras. Neither was amusing, but it was becoming a stressful routine for a month and a half. However, he did have his quiet moments. He was always more inclined to be in Kul Tiras because of the assault groups, so when there were none, he went to the house that the guardians arranged. Anduin quickly realized that he used to spend most of his time there especially with Wrathion. Tess and Dereck used to go out to work as usual for the SI:7, but if they could, they also stayed at home.

As Wrathion said, the house became an ideal place to hide and rest, some days they even ate there, or on a few occasions they slept there once they brought mattresses. The place was blessed as 'Filok waere' which in Draconic meant 'home for escaping' since they always went there when they needed a moment.

Dereck and Tess started a relationship in secret, only Anduin, Wrathion, Genn, Mia and Mathias knew it, they didn't want someone to gossip about their relationship, something that everyone agreed. Anduin and Wrathion on the other hand became almost inseparable, the few occasions when they separated were when Anduin had to go to help Jaina or when he returned to Stormwind temporarily. The two trained together almost every day, either in combat with weapons, or simply to practice their powers. Anduin improved a lot with his control over the shadows, he learned how to stop the voices from influencing him, although if he was emotionally sad he used to lose control. Besides, he also used to have somewhat strange dreams, but none of them interfered with his day to day, so he was quite happy. Wrathion was delighted to share so much time with Anduin, for the first time they could refer to each other as best friends. But the more time passed, the more concerned Wrathion became.

N’Zoth made no move in all that time. After Uldir's fall, there were no strange sensations or unusual events to indicate that he was there, and that caused Wrathion enormous concern. From the beginning, Wrathion said that it wasn't a good sign that the old god was so silent, that used to lead to something quite bad happening, so the dragon never stopped being alert.

There was also no luck in locating Nazjatar, Dereck even said that he sometimes doubted its existence. They swept the surface of the Great Sea, the forbidding Sea and even near the Maelstrom, but there were no hints, not even sightings of nagas. Tess began to suggest that maybe they knew they were looking for them and were hiding.

This morning, after breakfast, Anduin and Wrathion went to the Proudmoore Academy Square, just at the back of the Keep, to practice for a while. They didn't go to the secret house, as they always did, because Jaina asked to speak to Anduin after she took care of a matter.

Wrathion wanted to start a small combat using all the abilities they had.

With wooden swords, Anduin was the first to attack from the right. It was easy for Wrathion to defend himself, although the young king had improved his agility, he was still predictable in his eyes. So at first they were justclashing swords and blocking attacks from both sides at a high rate. They both clashed swords and tried to push each other, but as Wrathion had more strength, Anduin cut the situation off by taking a couple of steps back. They both walked slowly in a circle, a small set of feet that they always made to position themselves. Wrathion sided to Anduin's right and the young king reacted by turning sideways to the left, but when the dragon was about to take a step to attack, Anduin summoned a small tentacle of shadows to grab his right foot and Wrathion nearly stumbled. As Anduin charged at him when he saw him like this, Wrathion tried to hit him with a small fireball. Anduin dodged in time, but Wrathion took the opportunity to break free and attack. The young king had to jump back to dodge and reposition himself, but Wrathion didn't let him time to breathe when he went on the attack again. Anduin kept backing defensively, he could only focus on not getting hit. But Wrathion spinaround himself, and as soon as their swords collided, Anduin's sword was thrown away. The young king was shocked and unarmed, the dragon had used too much strength, but Wrathion threw his sword as well and grabbed Anduin to knock him to the ground and stay on top to tickle him.

"No! Stop!" Anduin said, trying to get rid of him without stopping laughing.

"How long will you resist this attack?"

"Is it a punishment?""

"I have won, I have the right."

Wrathion didn't stop and Anduin felt that he was at the limit of the bearable, he tried to push him several times until Wrathion decided to stop. Anduin took several breaths once the dragon was no longer on top of him and sat on the ground.

"How did you disarm me so quickly?"

"The spin?" Wrathion took both swords from the ground. "I have used my strength and weight for it, it's an old but useful movement if you find the perfect moment, doing it without thinking isn't a good idea."

"Well, I wasn't expecting it." Anduin got up. "How is it?" Wrathion gave him a sword.

"You have to take advantage of a moment when you see that the opponent’s strength is failing or you see that he gets tired of so many attacks that you have made. You can tell that by the way you hold the weapon, the hilt in your hand danced a bit." Anduin chuckled lightly. "If that happens, you have to spin around yourself but quickly, between your strength and your own weight you can disarm your opponent, but you have to pay attention to when you should do it."

"What happens if I do it in a bad moment?"

"That you won't disarm your enemy and you will stay in a position where it will be easy to kill you." Genn answered for Wrathion. Anduin smiled when he saw him and greeted him. "It's an elegant technique, but it can put you in a very bad situation."

"That's why you only do it when you're very sure." Wrathion said calmly.

"You don't want to train with me anymore, Anduin?" Genn said with mock outrage.

"If you ask me I have no qualms about it."

"Well, I think the dragon teaches you well, I can retire. But," Genn pointed at Wrathion. "the new against the old master?

"Yes!" Anduin answered for Wrathion. "I want to see that."

Wrathion sighed with a smile and accepted the challenge. Anduin sat on the nearby bench to watch, he wanted to know who would win. Genn picked up one of the wooden swords and went into an offensive position. When the attacks started, it was Wrathion who was defending himself. Unlike Anduin, Genn had much more experience and had better technique, so the dragon was waiting for a gap to be able to disarm him. Anduin was surprised to see how well Wrathion handled himself against someone with a lot of experience. Since he used to be bad at fighting himself, that made Wrathion look very good in comparison, but now that he looked at him against Genn he was sure the dragon was really good. The old wolf used to attack with many thrusts that Wrathion easily dodged, but he used to make quite unpredictable sword turns. Anduin was enjoying the duel when he noticed some touches on his shoulder, looking at who it was, he saw Jaina. The Lord Admiral sat quietly beside him without saying anything.

"Is the issue that required your attention resolved?" Anduin asked calmly.

"Not exactly, I needed to find you and they told me you were here."

"I was practicing a little, but Genn wanted a duel against Wrathion." the named ones clashed swords at that moment and suddenly separated.

"If Genn wins, will the dragon disappear at once?"

"No... Could you be a little kinder?" Jaina's resentment against Wrathion was one of the few things that didn't change at all. She had a lot of contempt for him and the only reason she didn't kick him out was because Anduin stopped her every time it was suggested.

"You know I'd rather him go away."

"Will you have that behavior every time I make a friend?"

"If it's not someone like him, no. Surely he still keeps many secrets and continues to use you."

"Stop." Anduin didn't want to continue with that topic. It was true that Wrathion was hiding things, but that wasn't a reason to disappear from his life. Jaina got up from the bench.

"You know? The bad thing about leaving the door open is that you never know who will actually enter." Anduin just frowned, he wasn't sure he understood what she meant. "And since you asked about the matter..." Jaina looked towards the Keep, the young king looked too, and saw that Velen was approaching and stood up as soon as he reached them.

"Good Morning." said the draenei.

"Good morning, Velen." Anduin replied.

"There's a new problem." Jaina said as she gestured for Velen to take something out. The draenei showed Anduin a scroll. The young king began to read quickly and was surprised to learn what had happened.

"A blockade?" Anduin looked worriedly at Velen.

"We can no longer access the Azuremyst Isle. The Horde has enough ships to do a sea block, they just started. They have several wizard blood elves cutting the transports through magic portals. The Vindicaar is still broken and unsolvable, so we cannot use it."

"I think this is revenge." Jaina said. "The Alliance is taking control over the Eastern Kingdoms and we have the whole area of the Eversong Woods very guarded, well, to be honest, we lock the blood elves in their own home, none can escape. Kalimdor is controlled by the Horde, except for the Azuremyst Isle. So…"

"Yeah... it's logical." Anduin scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't like asking for favors," Velen said. "but I ask for help to save my people, I just need that."

"Sure," Anduin nodded. "of course we will help save your people. The blockade isn’t strong for now because they have just started, there will be gaps that we can use to get all the draeneis off the island. Most likely, it will be a sea battle and something on the ground. Jaina, can you bring the Kul Tiras fleet?"

"What happened?" Genn asked as he approached.

"The Horde has made a blockadein the Azuremyst Isle." Anduin replied. "Velen asks for help to save the civilians, we will probably go with the Kul Tiras Fleet and the Seventh Legion. Who has won?"

"We stopped because I was overhearing the conversation in the background and wanted to find out well." Anduin looked at Wrathion, the dragon remained on the spot, looking with indifference at Jaina. Like her with him, Wrathion didn't like Jaina at all.

"I think we could start giving warnings and acting as soon as possible." Anduin said. "I will contact the leaders in the Eastern Kingdoms and see if they aren't too busy to help. Could you talk to those around here?"

"No problem, I will prepare the fleet too." Jaina said.

"Thank you very much." Velen thanked them.

Jaina bowed slightly and withdrew, but before leaving, she glared at Wrathion, he returned the glare with narrowed eyes. Genn retired with Velen to find out more details of what had happened and Anduin ran to Wrathion. Although the dragon looked serious after exchanging glances with Jaina, he smiled as the young king approached.

"I think we have to leave it here for today." Anduin said.

"Do you have a new job?"

"Problems with the Horde. I have to write a few letters, I'll go to the house, I can tell you on the way if you want."

Wrathion nodded in agreement. Anduin went to his room to get a few papers and ink to write, Wrathion waited for him at the door and they went together to the house. It was a good day, the last days passed under gray clouds, so a sun like that was appreciated. Before reaching the house, they took a short walk through the nearby forest while Anduin told him what had happened. Wrathion also came to the same conclusion as Jaina, the blockade seemed to be for revenge. The young king was amused that although Wrathion and Jaina despised each other, they used to think alike. Upon reaching the house, two small dogs approached to greet. Animals could calmly pass Wrathion's spell and also used to follow him, they got so used to having them around that some had names.

Anduin sat on the porch to write the letters, it was a good day and he wanted the sun to shine on him, the air was moderately warm and that prevented it from getting hot. Wrathion lay down near the young king to rest, the two dogs played around him climbing up his body from time to time or resting next to him.

Tyrande, Alleria, Turalyon and the dwarves of the Council of the Three Hammers were the leaders who weren't in Kul Tiras and were the ones Anduin should write to. When he started, he had doubts about what to say.

"Wrathion, should I explain the situation as if it were a desperate call and, if they don't send help, all the draenei people will die?" asked Anduin doubtfully. "Or should I write it as if it was under control and we're confident that it would turn out well?" Wrathion looked at him.

"Why do you ask?"

"Sometimes I have that doubt when I write these kinds of requests, I don't know whether to be desperate or confident."

"I think you should consider what kind of relationship you have with the person you are addressing. Who do you write to first?"

"Tyrande."

"She has no problems with you, you can write it restlessly or worried if you want. Tell me another leader."

"Turalyon."

"He continues to distrust you because of Nazmir, show him security, better if he doesn’t think there’s nothing under control and conclude that you’re weak."

"At least to the dwarves I can write neutrally."Anduin continued writing. "Although I have to point out well that the priority is the rescue of the draenei, not a fight against the Horde."

Wrathion rested his hands on the back of his neck and smiled at him. Although the Horde didn't stop sending small attacks in all that time, Anduin still thought that they weren't a priority. It was something that Wrathion liked very much, although N’Zoth was silent and took no action, Anduin didn't forget the intentions of the old god with both factions. When Anduin finished the letters and put them in separate envelopes, Tess and Dereck appeared in the distance. The young king waved as they approached. Tess took a little run until she reached Anduin and patted him lightly on the cheek.

"Letters?" Tess asked, looking at them.

"Asking for help. I guess you already know about the blockade."

"Yes, a while ago. We wanted to talk about it and when we didn't see you in Boralus we came here."

"Are you asleep, Wrathion?" Dereck asked.

"No." the dragon answered without opening his eyes.

Tess and Dereck sat on the porch. Wrathion leaned against the wall and paid more attention. Dereck began stroking the dogs with a smile.

"Mathias told us about the Azuremyst Isle," began Tess. "he wants to send Agents first of all to see the situation."

"Are you going?" Anduin asked.

"We have volunteered, rather." Dereck answered. "Before the battle begins, we want to personally see what's there. We'll communicate what we see to you first."

"Thanks, we'll see how it will be. I don't think it's difficult to leave the island empty. If we entertain them by sea, we could get enough time, but it will have to be a quick operation."

"If nobody does anything out of the ordinary..." Wrathion said. "The objective is to save the draenei people, but if any of them just lost it, well... I don't want to point, but I'll point to Jaina."

"Don't start now you too." Anduin said, it was enough to hear Jaina complain about Wrathion.

"Well," Tess clapped. "everything is said now, shall we leave?" she asked to Dereck.

"Yeah," Dereck got up. "see you soon."

They both left, it wouldn't be a mission that would take time. With the experience they had in observing and evaluating the situation, they would probably return the next day. Also, the trips were much shorter now. Malfurion gave permission to use a portal to the Moonlight for all members of the Alliance. Now they only had to wait a little.

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Anduin received extremely quick responses the next day from the leaders he wrote to, which was quite unusual.

Perhaps it was because they could smell a plan of action against the Horde, if it weren't for that, they would have taken several days to answer. In general, the majority confirmed their participation, they were ready to save the draenei people from the isolation that the Horde intended to make and they were going to Boralus, they would arrive in a few hours. There were only two who couldn't attend and lend a lot of support, and Anduin couldn't really blame them. Tyrande and Falstad were very busy. The elf had to lead her people into a new land where they were still settling. Falstad was heavily involved with the same purpose and was the main person who watched the steps of the blood elves in the Eversong Woods, he couldn't be easily absent. But they both said that in dire need, they would do their best to help. Tyrande, meanwhile, wanted to lend two Darnassus ships that she still had in her possession to rescue civilians along with the best crew she found. It was what she could send for now.

Anduin was satisfied with it, they were good responses and they all seemed to be united again, as it used to be before the daily discussions they suffered long ago. At noon, Tess and Dereck showed up almost asleep. Apparently, they spent the whole night awake taking notes about the position of the Horde and they hadn't a moment of rest. The information was very good, as expected. Once they sat down to eat alone, they explained. The Horde used the Darkshore as a harbor. The blockade wasn't complete, the southern part of the islands wasn't accessible, but the north was still open. The Horde had ships spread across the world, and especially since the Zandalari fleet sank, it was taking time for them to gather them all. If they took advantage of that gap, perhaps they could evacuate through the Bloodmyst Isle.

"There's something in particular that I would like to say." Tess said after yawning. "There are two Horde leaders in command, Rokhan and Baine." Anduin blinked.

"Baine?"

"Yes, we saw him ashore giving orders. We saw Rokhan leave on a ship, surely to give directions. But something happened..."

"What?" Tess and Dereck looked at each other.

"Baine discovered us," Dereck said. "he saw us well. But he didn't give the alarm."

"Why?"

"I don't know... I was very surprised, we could go unnoticed for it. It was very weird."

"Although I have to point out something," said Tess. "Baine looked excessively tired. It's not like I'm good at reading the face of a tauren, so imagine how tired he was to make me realize it."

"And not only tired, stress was also noticeable." Dereck added. Anduin scratched his chin thoughtfully, he didn't like the idea of Baine feeling like this.

"There must be a complicated situation in the Horde, if we think about it." Anduin said. "We won't tell anyone about this, it would be better if it stays between us. But at least, when the meeting about the evacuation starts, we already know where the gap is."

After eating, Anduin ran around the Keep locating the leaders he could to summon them. Tess and Dereck retired to get some sleep and regain strength. Anduin took a while, some were around Boralus and were difficult to find. In addition, he had to kindly welcome those who came and start thanking them for their support. Turalyon and Alleria seemed tired and looked indifferent, but they were cordial with Anduin and they went to the Keep without saying much more. Moira, on the other hand, was quite friendly, probably because it was he who assigned her to lead the Arathi front and she liked it. Muradin directly sent all the units he had and they remained waiting for orders in Boralus. The dwarf was doing well with the task Anduin gave him, he didn't handle big responsibilities or try to usurp the throne, he remained helping the needy families and the transfer of the Kaldorei people to Arathi. Anduin couldn't be more delighted with him.

When everyone gathered in the room, a small setback occurred. The meeting had to be slightly delayed because Jaina had to speak to a representative from a house in Kul Tiras, but while they were waiting, Velen began to tell them about the situation in more detail. Jaina was ten minutes late and didn't look good, she was very concerned, but she started the meeting anyway.

Anduin explained the new information he just got. Omitting the part that Baine didn't do anything to his friends, he explained that the Darkshore was being used as a harbor and that the blockade was weak in the north at the moment. They soon decided that they would use it, if they could keep the Horde at bay, they could rescue them all.

"I want to emphasize that this is a rescue mission, not a fight." Anduin said. "Let's not forget that the draenei people must be saved, let's not do crazy things that endanger civilians."

"Tyrande and Falstad are sure that they can't come?" asked Alleria.

"They are very busy, but Tyrande lends us two ships with crew that will arrive shortly, we could use these ships for transportation."

"The Kul Tiras fleet is ready for combat," Jaina said. "I suppose we also have the Seventh Legion." Anduin nodded and looked at Velen.

"Do you think you can send a message to the islands?"

"I can, we have been able to do it so far."

"You should send one as soon as possible, tell your people to leave the Azuremyst Isle and go to the Bloodmyst Isle, we will evacuate them there." Velen nodded in agreement.

"It will have to be done as soon as possible." Turalyon said. "When do we leave?"

"We have to assign the units on the ships, but tomorrow we could leave."

"Okay, consider it done."

"So be it." Jaina concluded.

The meeting was over and, quickly, everyone got going. The distribution of the ships wouldn't be a big problem, but it would take them a little time. Anduin saw that Jaina was still looking worried. Before leaving, he decided to ask her.

"Is everything okay?" Jaina looked up.

"Yes, well... that way."

"Has something bad been reported to you?"

"The kidnappings in Drustvar increase, bad business. Today they found one of the disappeared."

"That's good."

"He's dead." Anduin looked away, not knowing what to say. "He had no signs of violence or anything, but he did have magic inside."

"So?"

"It's Drust magic. We have the theory that Gorak Tul is behind, but we don't have much clues and evidence. They couldn't do an autopsy to the man they found because of the magic."

"I suppose they are asking you for help."

"I'll fix it, first I want to focus on the rescue of the draenei."

Jaina rubbed her eyes tiredly and got up, she still had to call some Tidesages and make sure everything was in order within the fleet. Anduin worried about Drustvar, it wasn't pleasant news to know that maybe the Drust were still giving trouble. When the coven fell months ago, there were supposed to be no more problems, which is why they earned the favor of the Waycrest house. But if it happened again, they had to help again in order to keep their favor.

During dinner, Tess and Dereck only showed up to eat and go back to sleep afterwards. They were tired and almost fell asleep on the plate. They have to regain strength if they are going to the rescue mission. Wrathion said he wouldn't be involved in a Horde and Alliance quarrel. It had nothing to do with him.

When dinner was over Anduin took Wrathion with him. He used the excuse that he didn't want him to get into trouble, lately Wrathion got into a lot of fighting and was tired of the complaints. But he really needed to talk to him about something that kept going around his mind.

Both sat on the balcony that had Anduin's room staying in the cool of the night. Anduin tried to ask him once again why he was fighting around the harbor, but Wrathion always just looked the other way or changed the subject. This time he didn't bother making an excuse, he just didn't say anything.

"You could just tell me. I'm not going to bite you or something." Wrathion laughed a little.

"I don't understand your interest that much either."

"Interest? You go around fighting people and I get all the complaints, sorry if I look interested." he said with some irony.

"You wouldn't understand me either." Anduin frowned angrily, the only thing he didn't understand was why he didn't want to tell him. "Anyway, shouldn't you be sleeping? You have a fight tomorrow, it's not convenient for you to be awake staying up late with me."

Wrathion got up, approaching the railing ready to jump. Anduin wasn't sleepy and didn't want him to leave so soon, besides, he needed to tell him something important.

"Wrathion." called the young king. The dragon stopped and looked back.

"What?" Anduin sighed and looked determined.

"What would you say if I told you that I plan to invite Baine to the guardians?" Wrathion frowned, puzzled. He got off the railing and sat back down, scratching his head with a finger.

"What did you say?" he asked to try to confirm what he had heard.

"That I want Baine to join us." Wrathion rubbed his eyes with his hand.

"Okay, putting aside all the cons." the dragon raised his hands. "Why?"

"Baine isn't a bad person, in fact, I would say that he's one of the most decent people in the Horde right now. We have been friends for a long time and... Even when he sent me the letter saying that we couldn't be friends because Sylvanas prevented him, he continued to defend me, for example in the battle of the Valley, when we met in Nazmir, or now letting Tess and Dereck escape because they're friends of mine. He doesn't want to hurt me."

"Anduin... I understand that it's a wish that you have, but it's almost impossible. Also, what evidence do you have that it wouldn't be a bad idea?"

"Baine gave me part of his horn through that letter." Wrathion looked at him as saying 'so what?'. "For a tauren that's an expression of maximum friendship. Even if he said that we couldn't be friends now, the feeling would still be there... so that when it was all over, we would see each other again."

"Look..." Wrathion rubbed his face with his hands. "This is very complicated because he's part of the Horde. I don't trust them after what they have done, and this alliance you propose could go very wrong."

"It's not an alliance with the Horde, it's only with Baine. Guardians are neutral, right? We would accept everyone who wanted to help, Horde or Alliance has nothing to do with us."

"What if he doesn't want to?"

"Well, then he doesn't join, but I want to try it. I want to… talk to him, I need to."

"Why? Give me a good reason."

"Something is happening in the Horde. You know that during the period of Uldir, N’Zoth didn't stop attacking them, causing them to have casualties everywhere. You know I don't like to go blindly and right now we don't know what happens to half of this world. What if Baine can tell us something that helps us against N’Zoth? Something that happened between them, some hint of the next move… What if the blockade was N’Zoth's idea for us to fight? I'm just saying we need information." Wrathion was thoughtful.

"And how do you plan to do it? Will you tell him to go to a bar and talk?"

"I'll talk to him tomorrow." Wrathion raised an eyebrow. "During the rescue we will surely enter into combat. I'll try to take him away, I know how to do it... I just need a favor."

"Which favor?"

"You have to come with me tomorrow, please." Wrathion opened his mouth in surprise.

"I can't go."

"Yes you can, it's just a favor I need. I'm not asking you to go enter in combat, just to help me take him to a remote area, just that, please." Wrathion hesitated. "Please…"

Anduin sounded very pleading with the last words, so much so that Wrathion felt weak. Anduin stepped in front of him, taking away most of his personal space while staring into his eyes. The young king's eyes reflected hope and supplication. Wrathion clenched his fist tightly and sighed slowly, lately it was too hard for him to resist.

"Okay, I'll go." the young king's expression changed suddenly, it turned into pure happiness and gratitude. "But I don't intend to fight or help the Alliance, I'll only take you to speak and nothing else."

"Thank you!"

Anduin hugged Wrathion tightly, very grateful that he accepted. Wrathion felt as if he had gotten drunk with a single hug from Anduin. His scent was also highly addictive. The truth is that lately it was hard for him to refuse anything Anduin asked him and he wasn't sure if it would be a problem in the long run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth is that at the beginning of the expansion I didn't understand why blizzard said nothing about the home of the Draeneis and Blood Elves, they are completely isolated from their faction and I'm surprised that they didn't try to invade them, anyway... See you in the next one. Take care!


	29. The Azuremyst Isle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! How are you? I hope you're well, I bring you a new chapter to try to entertain. Lately the world is in chaos and I hope you don't have any collateral damage. Hopefully one day we will get rid of so much hate and stupid people in power.  
This chapter turned out to be long with my 8000 usual words, but it will decrease a little later. The adventure begins.

He was distressed. For some time Anduin had very bad dreams, especially if something important was happening like the rescue of the draenei people. In his dream, he was on Azuremyst Isle, or rather, the memory he had of it. Since his training as a priest in Exodar ended, he hadn't returned to the island, he wasn't sure if it was different now. But the place became hell and he began to feel fear. Anduin was walking towards the Exodar, but the path was littered with the corpses of draeneis of all ages. Several bodies were of Vindicators, lying on the ground with their weapons still in their hands. Civilians were piling on each other, many seemed to stand between their loved ones and a weapon. The children were hidden in the arms of the mothers who tried to protect them. Anduin began to feel desperate, he knew it was a dream, but he felt he was late. As soon as he approached the Exodar gates, the sky turned with a very dark purple. Anduin turned, the energies of the Void were rising from the horizon.

Anduin didn't understand, it was supposed to be a Horde attack, why was he seeing the Void? He heard the voices in the background, the voices of the dead draeneis, and their spirits began to surround him. Anduin wanted to wake up at once, he was starting to feel very bad. Although the voices were from draeneis, there was one in particular that began to stand out... And he knew the voice very well. It was the same voice as always.

_You could save them, but you were late, you will have to pay with blood. Pay with the ones you love the most._

Anduin woke up at that moment, sweating everywhere. These kinds of nightmares were becoming too recurrent and were always related to something that worried him. It wasn't something that should surprise him since the voice of the Void always talks to him, but this time it scared him. It wasn't a bearable nightmare and he kept thinking about it. What did it really mean by that? Pay with the ones he loves the most? Anduin decided that it was best not to think about it much, Wrathion always told him to never listen to the voices and he should ignore it. Looking out the window, he realized it was very early. It shouldn't be more than eight in the morning, so he decided to take a quick shower and eat breakfast right away, he didn't want to sleep again. Cold water came in handy to clear his mind and come out rested.

He found no one in the kitchens, perhaps he got up earlier than he thought. After quickly devouring some pasta and an apple, he decided to go out through Boralus to make time.

The streets were a little quiet, very few people were awake. Some food stores were open, but there was no movement yet. Anduin thought that this was the best time to walk since the streets weren't crowded and he didn't have to avoid people or stop because someone was walking very slowly. After walking for a long time, some men talking loudly caught his attention. Looking to the left, he saw two strong men who seemed to run away from something, one of them bled from their nose. Anduin's instinct was to approach to help them, but they ran away. The young king ran to the narrow street to see what was happening because he was hearing another person moan in pain. Just as he turned and took a look, he was almost stunned, to the point of believing it was another dream. There was another very thin man on the ground wiping blood from his nose with one hand and another man being caught by Wrathion. The dragon looked towards Anduin, with anger in his eyes, but when he saw his friend, he was quite surprised, as if he didn't expect to see him there either. Wrathion stopped grabbing the man and was shocked for a few seconds, but he picked up something on the ground and suddenly ran off followed by a dog. Anduin ran after him, he didn't understand why he was running away. Wrathion got into an even narrower street, but it wasn't an inconvenience for Anduin and ended up reaching the dragon.

"Stop running!" Anduin reached his back and grabbed his scarf as tightly as he could. For some reason, Wrathion stopped. "Don't run away from me, idiot!" Wrathion didn't turn around, he didn't want to look at him. The dog that followed Wrathion weakly attacked Anduin's leg. "Wait, little one, I don't want to hurt him." the dog didn't stop.

"_Nid ahraan munthrek_." Wrathion said in Draconic. The dog stopped and looked confused.

"Wrathion, what on Azeroth are you doing?" the dragon didn't answer, he refused to look at Anduin. Then the young king realized that he was hiding something in his arms. "What have you got there?"

"Nothing." Anduin walked around and stood in front of Wrathion. He didn't know what to expect, but the dragon was protectively holding a small brown haired dog that he instantly recognized.

"Reti?" that was one of the dogs that used to go to the house, and now that he looked at it, it was badly hurt. "But... What happened to him?"

"What do you think?" now he could link everything well. Wrathion defended little Reti from those men.

"Wrathion…"

Anduin sighed, he wasn’t sure what to think. He was grateful that Wrathion defended animals, but that he got into fights like that didn't quite convince him. Anduin carefully picked up Reti and sat down on the floor, leaning his back against a wooden wall. By using the Light, he healed the wounds. Wrathion sat beside him, worried.

"Why didn't you want to tell me that you were getting into trouble for this reason?" Anduin asked, Wrathion took some seconds before responding.

"I don't know."

"Why?" he insisted. Wrathion looked at him very seriously.

"Don't you know that Kultirans treat abandoned animals very badly? Anything that isn't related to the sea is worthless to them, they have no qualms about hurting them." Anduin frowned.

"I didn't know."

"I knew it since the first day I arrived."

"All those allegations for aggression all this time were because of this?" Wrathion looked away. This was definitely something he never imagined. "You should have told me, Wrathion."

"And what would you have done? Tell Katherine or Jaina that they won't do anything about it?"

"Taking justice on your own hasn't benefited you either."

"Not to me, but it has helped the animals."

"I just... I can't understand..." Wrathion looked at him.

"I was told I should defend them! Animals are the beginning of everything, there's nothing more natural than them, we must protect them. And I personally think that someone who hurts animals isn't a very good person, so I don't mind hurting them."

"Who told you that you should do it?" Wrathion looked away again.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Anduin sighed, Wrathion was still as closed as ever. This time, the dragon seemed to be quite upset. He didn't know if it was because he discovered him or because his anger from the fight was still going on.

Anduin made sure that Reti was fine, the little dog could walk again.

"Well, you know what?" Anduin said as he got up. "I wouldn't have been angry if you had told me, I was angry that you didn't tell me anything. And I would have talked to someone to try to penalize this." Wrathion glanced at him. "But as usual, you always want to do things on your own. You once told me that you hope my idea of saving the whole world doesn't end with me. But I hope your idea to think that you're alone doesn't end with you." Anduin took a few steps away. "Remember that you must come to the rescue."

Anduin couldn't help but say it a bit coldly, but he didn't know how to tell him what he was thinking anymore. Although after all that time they became very good friends, Wrathion kept hiding things from him and his attitude sometimes bothered Anduin, especially when he seemed indifferent to the company he had, as if he was really alone. In what used to be the circle of contacts, the Greymane, or SI:7 people like Mathias and Dereck, treated Wrathion very well. Of the leaders, it used to be only Jaina, Turalyon or Alleria who didn't like the dragon, but he was indifferent to them, so he didn't see what could bother him to close with those who treated him well. Anduin no longer knew what to do or how to tell him to leave that behavior behind.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

To everyone's surprise, they were able to leave earlier than planned. Jaina took good care of distributing units on the ships and that gave them free access to leave after eating. All the ships left Kul Tiras ready to cross The Great Sea fast thanks to the Tidesages they had on board. But it took them three days on the seas to arrive. They hoped it wasn't late.

Anduin decided to go on board the ships that Tyrande lent. He himself was going to the island and guide all the draenei with a great team where Genn and Turalyon would accompany him. Many Lightforged draenei wanted to help their race, so Turalyon would go ashore to help. They passed through the north of Teldrassil trying to go unnoticed since, to the south, they would be too close to the Darkshore and it would be easy to spot them. The sun was almost gone in the west when they visualized the islands. Jaina, using one of her ice flying disc, approached the ship where Anduin was. The idea she had was a little distraction trap. They would await sundown and use the AbyssalScepter to create mist and approach the blockade. They would use the entire fleet to distract them, except for the two Kaldorei ships that were approaching land. The young king accepted the plan, but told her not to take risks. Jaina lent Anduin a red flare gun, he would only fire once the civilians were safe, on the other hand, Jaina had her own gun and would only fire it in case they couldn't contain them.

"Just one question." Jaina said with an annoyed tone. "What's he doing here?" she asked pointing to Wrathion, who was sitting away from the conversation.

"Nothing," Anduin replied. "he just came with me. He won't enter in combat."

"If he doesn't enter combat he's a hindrance." Anduin just looked tired. Jaina looked at Turalyon. "Keep an eye on him, if he does something strange and spoils our plan, kill him."

"It will be a pleasure." Turalyon said.

Jaina walked away with her ice disc back to her ship. Anduin sighed, Wrathion had to help him, but he couldn't say anything to Jaina. They spent several minutes watching the sunset when what Jaina said came true, the mist began to cover the southern part of the islands as soon as it began to get dark, the signal they needed to move forward. Anduin more or less saw the fleet go through the mist and they reached the east of Bloodmyst Isle where they hoped to find someone. Velen was able to send a message days before and received a hasty reply that said: "Okay, hurry up please."

Seeing that the eastern part was entirely a cliff, they decided to anchor to the southeast of the island, a mostly green part instead of red. Anduin saw draenei waiting, Vindicators judging by the appearance, who greeted Velen on the other ship. Before everything began, the young king had to speak to Wrathion. The dragon looked very upset.

"Please, whatever happens, don't get violent." Anduin said almost whispering.

"Okay." the dragon replied without looking at him.

"Look," Anduin showed him a different flare gun than the one Jaina gave him. "This one is blue. If you see the flash, it's my signal for you to come to me, okay? I do the rest."

Wrathion just nodded, it didn't seem like he wanted to talk much more, but as long as he understood the plan, it was enough.

Everyone made landfall the moment gunshots began to be heard in the distance, the distraction had begun. The Island was as Anduin remembered it, the sky, water and moon with a characteristic reddish color. The Vindicators confirmed that part of the civilians were waiting at the Blood Watch, but that many others were still on Azuremyst Isle because the Horde recently sent troops there and were trying to massacre them, so many draenei hid and were afraid to leave. Velen would go to the Blood Watch with several soldiers to start mobilizing his people. Fortunately, the Horde hadn't arrived here yet, but they wanted to leave soldiers there in case something happened. On the other hand, the rest would go to the other island and they would try to save all those who were left alive.

The SI:7 Agents who came would be tracking the movements of the Horde to give warnings and dodge them. Anduin, along with Genn, Turalyon, and a large group, entered the Azuremyst Isle seeking draeneis. In the north of the island, they found a couple of families hiding in caves, they were terribly frightened and confirmed that most of the Horde members who were sent to the island were Forsaken... and they used to be ruthless. The large group was divided into two groups, one would go east and the other would go west with the utmost caution. Turalyon alone was enough to lead a group, so Anduin and Genn went together. As Dereck had to go in Turalyon's group, Tess, being the main spy, went ahead to locate the Horde and report the position, but it seemed that for now they had the way free.

Anduin and Genn's group followed the western path, but to their surprise, the draenei they found were hidden in the dense forest next to them, some even hid in the treetops. A rescued draenei told them that most were hidden that way, the Forsaken had trouble climbing trees, but they were patient and waited for the draeneis to fall. He also explained that south of the Azure Watch and the Ammen Valley was invaded and that they shouldn't go there, there was no one to rescue. After giving directions as to where to go, they continued their search in the forest. They searched the place from top to bottom locating as many draeneis as they could, some unfortunately found them dead and gutted. Anduin was finding parallels with his nightmare, the corpses were in the same positions, parents protecting their children and Vindicators with the weapon in their hands.

He wanted to end this.

They reached a road that separated the forest into two after a while. One path led to the Bloodmyst Isle and the other to the Stillpine Hold, the only place left to look. Genn sent Tess to find Turalyon and report that they have already done their part.

When they started walking to the Hold, they heard many more gunshots. Genn made the sarcastic comment that they were having a party, but Anduin worried. Although he didn't see Jaina's sign of retreat, he thought the battle was too intense, they might be in trouble.

When they reached the Stillpine Hold, they saw that the place was very quiet. There were several corpses of white fur Furbolgs that used to inhabit the cave, but there were also draenei's bodies. They inspected the exterior first, looking around the small tents without much success. Anduin looked in the last tent, but only found the corpse of a very young draenei with his body opened, it seemed that his intestines were devoured and Anduin couldn't help but feel an arcade. But before leaving, he heard a small noise. He turned to look at the tent one more time, but saw nothing moving. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he didn't feel very sure. Apparently no one found anything, there were no survivors outside the cave, but they still had to look inside. Anduin took a quick look around the place again before entering, and this time he did see someone. In the last tent he entered, there was a little draenei looking at him. Could it be that he was hiding and who he heard? Genn also noticed the little boy and ordered them to stop for a moment. The little draenei pointed at something above Anduin, scared and trembling.

"Ca... Careful!"

Anduin immediately looked behind when an Undead jumped and knocked him to the ground, cutting slightly his arm on the way. He didn't have his weapon on hand, but Anduin kicked him off and stood up when he saw other Forsaken appear from the top of the cave. Genn finished off the Forsaken who pushed Anduin.

"Ambush!" shouted the old wolf.

The soldiers drew their swords or bows and the worgen transformed. Anduin felt a certain intrigue, there were only Forsaken and he wondered why, were they the advance party? Genn calmly eliminated them without much effort, none was a match for someone with so much experience. Worgen resisted attacks well and tore them apart with their claws. Humans sometimes made mistakes with the most agile Forsaken, small oversights put them in a bad situation and left them injured. Anduin was healing them with the Light instead of fighting. He also couldn't use the shadows in front of everyone, it was supposed to be a secret even if he saw many opportunities. But he could defend himself perfectly with the Light if someone attacked him, and he also learned a lot with all the training he did with Wrathion, so it wasn’t a problem. Anduin disarmed the last Undead when he hit him in the leg to destabilize him and plunge the sword into his chest. It was a few minutes fight against a dozen, they were outnumbered. Anduin gestured for the little draenei to approach once they were safe. The little boy ran towards Anduin.

"What is your name?" Anduin asked.

"Haarlo..." he replied, still scared.

"You're safe, Haarlo, it's okay. Are you alone?" the little boy denied. "Where are your parents?"

"There are still people inside..." he pointed to the cave. "And also the bad skeletons." Anduin looked at Genn, he sighed and looked at the other worgen.

"Guys, the hunt continues." said Genn. Anduin looked at the others.

"Soldiers, we will enter, I need you to stay here watching. If an enemy approaches, push it back or eliminate it."

"Understood, my king!" said one of higher rank. Anduin looked at the little boy.

"Stay here with them, okay?"

Haarlo nodded. Anduin, Genn, and all the worgen entered the cave. At first they didn't hear anything and it didn't seem that someone was really there, but they heard a scream after a short time, the kind of scream people do when someone discovers them. A worgen climbed up one of the walls to see what was on the upper level and howled, the rest of the worgen got going. Genn nodded to Anduin as confirmation that they had been found and helped him to go up taking one path leading upstairs. Upon arrival, he saw the worgen fighting with some Forsaken and draenei fleeing. A woman was hit by an Undead from behind and knocked her down, driving his dagger through the back. Anduin took out his dagger angrily and, very carefully, nailed it in the Undead’s head. A pair of worgen escorted the survivors outside while the others eliminated the remaining enemies. They walked the cave from top to bottom once they finished, it wasn't too big, but it had many blind spots where they found other draenei, Forsaken or corpses. Thus, they ended up cleaning the entire cave in no time. Like the ambush outside, there were very few enemies.

Most of the draenei were dead. They didn't arrive in time to save them and Anduin felt guilt. Maybe he could have arrived earlier, maybe he could avoid the massacre... Those doubts always appeared when he witnessed something like that and he left the cave quickly. Anduin could see that Haarlo was in the arms of who seemed to be his father and that made him smile weakly. Even if it was only one, it was a great victory.

"Anduin! Dad!"

Both Anduin and Genn looked in the direction of the voice, Tess was running towards them. She took a second to catch her breath before speaking.

"We have to leave as soon as possible!" she exclaimed nervously.

"What happened, my daughter?"

"The horde! They have sent reinforcements, someone has informed them that we're here evacuating. It's a big group led by Baine."

"Baine?" Anduin asked.

"Yes, he was in command with Rokhan, remember? They're a much higher number than ours, they come from the south. Dereck has already alerted Turalyon so it's time to retreat to the bridge that connects the islands."

"Wait a moment." Genn said. "What's the rush? Maybe there are people left."

"Dad... First, I don't think there's anyone alive in the south by now. And second, they have the black dragon."

"Ebyssian?" asked Anduin, alerted.

"Yes, he can burn us in seconds. We have to leave this place."

Genn ordered the retreat, if the black dragon that caused all those casualties in the battle of the Valley was there, they had to flee as soon as possible. Anduin became uneasy, that wasn't good news if he and Wrathion met again. They took the eastern path to return in case they ran into Turalyon, but were only found when they almost reached the bridge connecting islands. Almost everyone who went on the rescue mission was there. Turalyon immediately reported that they had a bit of bad luck in an ambush against taurens and trolls and some perished, but managed to rescue all the civilians they saw.

At a slow pace because of the wounded, the draenei began to cross the bridge while the others were alert.

A few minutes later Dereck pointed east.

"Enemies!" Dereck yelled. Anduin looked at Genn and Turalyon, they both nodded.

"Form a barricade!" Anduin ordered. "Don't let them get closer!"

"Resist until all civilians have crossed to the other side of the island!" Turalyon added.

"Swords ahead! Archers back!"

They all got into position quickly ready to defend. The civilians began to pass faster as soon as they saw the Horde approach. They also had to give the gnomes who accompanied them a little time, they were placing explosives across the bridge to sink it when the time came. Anduin realized that they were no longer just Forsaken. Taurens, trolls, and orcs joined the attack. The archers fired the first line of arrows as soon as they were close enough, but didn't stop the Horde's march. They soon caught up with them and the fight started. Now, with the variety of races, they had containment problems. The Forsaken were fragile and that's why the ambush they put on Anduin and Genn's group failed, but now they had very resistant races. Anduin fought side by side with Turalyon in the rear against those who got too close to the bridge. With the power of the Light on their side, they didn't have too much trouble, only the tauren were the toughest. But even with that, it was clear that they were outnumbered, many Alliance soldiers began to fall.

Genn saw another Horde group approaching on the west road, if they had trouble with numbers now, once those approached, they would be at too much of a disadvantage. The Forsaken used to sneak out of the thick of the fight to get closer to the civilians, Anduin was almost exhausted dealing with them, one of them with sword and wooden shield faced him. Anduin tried to attack him without being able to hit him because of the shield, but if he kept hitting, he would end up breaking the wooden shield. Anduin dodged, or blocked, the Undead’s attacks well, and in one swift sword twist, he ended up breaking the shield. The Undead himself seemed confused, Anduin took advantage of that small distraction to make a deep cut in the ribs and finally deal the final blow with Light. As soon as his enemy fell to the ground, he heard wings flapping. The young king looked to his right and froze. Ebyssian, the black dragon, was approaching them and was accompanied by another group of taurens. Turalyon also realized this and looked at Anduin somewhat hesitantly.

"Withdrawal..." Anduin said. "We cannot fight that, we must withdraw." Turalyon looked at everyone.

"WITHDRAWAL! GO TO THE BLOODMYST ISLE! THE DRAGON IS COMING!"

All the Alliance members there looked sideways until they located the dragon. Some soldiers there witnessed the destruction of Ebyssian in the Valley and seemed to panic. The draenei also went into mass hysteria and started to plug the bridge because the wounded couldn't go any faster, some even opted to jump into the water and swim across.

"Withdrawal! Retreat to the Bloodmyst Isle! Calmly!" Genn repeated trying to put order. Miraculously they started to pass more in order.

"Anduin." Turalyon called. "Let's blind them!"

The young king nodded. Both were powerful Light users, they could make a flash strong enough to temporarily blind their enemies. They waited a bit until they saw all the draenei on the other side. Summoning the Light, they made a big flash towards the Horde. Everyone rubbed their eyes with their hands, it would only be a few seconds until they could see well again, but enough to blow up the bridge. Anduin and Turalyon were the last to pass, telling the gnomes to detonate the explosives, and the bridge sank in seconds. They weren't going to stop the Horde at all, but it would buy them time.

"Tess!" Genn called. "You have to run to the Blood Watch. If you see that there are still people, and it will be like that, tell them to hurry, evacuate now or perish. And if you can tell the rest of the soldiers to come, the better, we'll need reinforcements."

"Okay, dad." Tess started running, she was the fastest person to do something like that.

"Dereck, guide these civilians to the ships, please."

"Right away." Dereck obeyed.

"We should mislead the Horde." he said, addressing Turalyon and Anduin. "We must take the Horde in the opposite direction."

"We're going west, through the woods." Turalyon said.

The Alliance members with them follow Turalyon to The Lost Fold, a small forest just next to them. The Horde pulled themselves together again and they began to cross the water when Ebyssian caught up with them. Fortunately, they didn't pay attention to the civilians who went in the opposite direction and only chased the soldiers. First of all, Anduin considered that it was time. He grabbed the flare gun and launched a blue one into the sky, he would need Wrathion's help.

The ships on the coast began to fill with civilians at once when night fell completely. Tess managed to get to the Blood Watch and get the message across, all the survivors who hadn't yet embarked moved faster, they would be leaving the islands at once. The Vindicators went to aid the group that was misleading the Horde for honor, after helping their people, they had to help them. The rest of the soldiers followed.

"Is that the last group?" Tess asked Dereck, looking at a group of small families.

"Yes, that's what Velen said."

"Have you seen the blue flare? Wasn't supposed to be red?"

"Yes... I'm also intrigued..."

"Where's the dragon?" they heard behind them. They both looked, Wrathion was gone.

"Do you think that…?" Dereck started.

"Probably escaped through the water. I hope he doesn't get into trouble."

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The Horde numbers were too many. Shooting the flare was what attracted them most, Anduin realized immediately, perhaps he had endangered those who accompanied him. As soon as they crossed the small forest, they found the red river and the Horde was on their heels. They crossed it quickly to enter an even bigger forest called Middenvale, perhaps they could mislead them. But they didn't think about the small detail that Ebyssian was also behind them. The dragon appeared and, with fire, scorched part of the forest. That left them somewhat exposed, the Horde appeared as soon as they stopped taking refuge in the brush and approached a path, it was time to stop and fight.

The Vindicators arrived when the fight began, mounted on large elekks, along with the troops that remained in the Blood Watch. It was a great help, the numerical disadvantage was balanced slightly. Still, they were less in comparison. Anduin saw Ebyssian approach by air, about to charge against them, but something caught the dragon's attention before doing so. He looked past them when he saw Wrathion appear. Anduin was glad to see that he came, but was pleasantly surprised. Wrathion was huge! The last time he compared the size of both dragons was in the Stormsong Valley, Wrathion wasn’t half the size of Ebyssian that day.

Wrathion dangerously approached Ebyssian and scratched him away from the ground fight as he roared threateningly. The two engaged in a fight of violent scratches and chases in the air. Anduin tried to get closer to Genn, removing a troll in the middle of it.

"Genn!" the old wolf killed another troll, leaving him inert on the ground, and turned around. "Do you know if the northern part of this island is completely uninhabited?"

"Of course it is!" both faced an orc who reached them. Anduin cut his arm and Genn dug his claws into his head when the orc complained about the pain. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to take the dragon away!"

"What?" Genn looked at him, totally puzzled.

"Trust me! Grab everyone and take them to the ships!" Anduin gave him the flare gun. "Call Jaina when you get to the ships!" Anduin started running towards the dragons.

"Anduin!"

The young king didn't stop. He knew something perfectly, Baine was there. He saw him near the dragons, perhaps trying not to get anyone close to them. It was the perfect opportunity, the emotion ran through his veins.

Such a thing has never been considered before, it would never have occurred to Anduin to do this and part of him still didn't believe that he would do it. But this went beyond the quarrels between the Horde and the Alliance, this could become the most important pact in the history of Azeroth... if it went well.

Anduin reached the end of the battle when he faced a big orc. The orc raised his ax and made a somewhat slow attack, the young king had no problem dodging it. Anduin made a small cut near his knee and the orc wobbled slightly. Then he realized out of the corner of his eye that Baine became aware of his presence, so, using the Light, he temporarily blinded the orc. Anduin headed towards Baine while the orc continued to rub his eyes. The young tauren wasn't sure what to do, it was obvious in his eyes that he didn't want to face Anduin, but he had to grab his totem and put himself in a defensive position as well. Anduin felt the same way, he didn't want to raise his weapon against him, but they had to keep up appearances. The young king charged at Baine crashing his sword into the totem, Baine resisted the attack and held the position. Although Anduin tried to push him back, the tauren didn't move at all.

"I don't want to fight you..." Baine whispered. The two separated by stepping back.

"Neither do I…"

Baine moved his ears a little confused and Anduin attacked again, but this time, Baine decided to repel the attack instead of clashing weapons. There was a slight footwork and position changes in an attempt to avoid attacking each other. Baine attacked slowly causing their weapons to collide again and held the position.

"Please, go away..." Baine insisted.

"Come with me." the tauren looked at him confused. "You have to follow me, I came here with that intention, to offer a solution to the conflict. Follow me and I promise it will be worth it, please." Anduin gestured with his eyes to the dragons. "Follow me flying, please do it. Trust me."

Anduin backed away, taking several steps back, and whistled in a special way, two short whistles and one long. Wrathion landed next to him almost three seconds later, completely ignoring Ebyssian, but he looked at Baine with as much mistrust as possible and roared. Anduin climbed onto Wrathion's back as best he could and waved Baine sneakily to follow him before Wrathion took flight again and moved slightly away. Ebyssian wanted to chase them.

"Ebonhorn!" Baine called, the black dragon looked down. "Come!" Ebyssian, with a bit of indecision, landed to the ground, right next to the tauren.

"Baine!" Mayla called approaching him. "Won't you seriously think about chasing them? I heard it!"

"I have to know what’s going on, I can't continue living like this."

"I will only answer to Mayla." Ebyssian said. Baine looked at Mayla.

"We cannot continue living this way..." said the tauren. "Perhaps he can offer a solution. You've been giving me your trust since it all started, keep giving it to me, please." Mayla meditated.

"Be very careful."

"We will be fine, and I will return Ebonhorn to you safe and sound. If anyone asks, say I'm hunting down the king of Stormwind and I will be back soon."

Mayla nodded and gestured for Ebyssian to let him ride. Baine climbed onto Ebyssian's back with a little help, and they flew up, ready to chase after them.

Anduin was pleased to see that Baine listened to him. Ebyssian was flying very fast to catch up with them, but Wrathion was much faster. They came swiftly to the north of the island when Anduin saw a crashed ship in what was known as The Warp Piston.

"Wrathion, go down there."

Anduin pointed to the northeast coast and Wrathion began to descend. As soon as they touched the ground, Anduin came down and felt nervous. He didn't even know how this conversation should start and nervousness was beginning to rise from his chest to his throat. Ebyssian came up to them after a few seconds and landed on the ground, Baine came down immediately.

Anduin took a few steps towards them trying to show confidence, but his legs trembled slightly. Wrathion returned to his humanoid form with the most serious expression he had ever shown. Ebyssian transformed into a Highmountain tauren taller than Baine with black fur and red eyes like Wrathion. Once they were face to face, Anduin sighed nervously.

"Thank you... for giving me a chance." Anduin started.

"Thank you for asking me politely." Baine replied. Anduin gave a glimpse of a smile.

"I don't even know where to start…"

"In that case, I start." Ebyssian said in an angry tone. "You." he said pointing to Wrathion. "Now you dedicate yourself to deceiving Alliance leaders to kill them later?"

"From what I see, the only two brain cells you have haven't interacted with each other yet." Wrathion replied with contempt.

"Don't be smart-ass, murderer. You have to answer for what you did." Wrathion just growled.

"It's not the moment." Baine said.

"Any moment is the moment! He killed people!" Ebyssian looked at Anduin. "I suppose he hasn't told you anything of what he has done."

"I know he has killed people and I know why." Anduin replied. Ebyssian blinked in surprise. "Did you know that he did it because they were under mind control by an old god?" both tauren looked at each other confused.

"An old god?" Baine asked. "After what happened in Pandaria there are no more."

"N’Zoth remains, and before you say he's a legend, he's real and I have seen him." Baine was silent for several seconds and shook his head in confusion.

"How?"

"N’Zoth is alive in his prison under the sea and… he has conspired all this conflict between both factions through the Azerite." Baine denied again.

"I don't get it…"

"It's a very long story, more than you think, but you have to believe me. You know that it all started when people began acting strange for the Azerite... That craving that led them to do things they never imagined."

"I know that people started to act erratically, but I cannot fit the old god."

"Have you ever touched the Azerite?" Baine nodded. "What did you see?"

"Well... This is strange, how do you know I saw something?"

"We all saw something, usually our dream came true thanks to the Azerite."

"I saw the world in peace."

"I see you have the same dream as me. N’Zoth's power is mental, and it shows us our most precious dream come true thanks to the Azerite, that's why many people wanted to monopolize the Azerite from the beginning leading to their violent behavior. I didn't do anything, I didn't attack anyone, neither did you. But we both know well who attack first."

"Sylvanas..." Baine sighed. "You say you have seen the old god, when?"

"I haven’t seen him exactly, only the ones he had under control."

"The old gods corrupt."

"N’Zoth can control anyone. I have seen two, we faced them and I could free them, both had a parasite in the brain and... I could hear N’Zoth through them. You met one too, Zul was under control."

"What?" Baine sounded totally puzzled.

"Yes, it's true, that's why he betrayed the Zandalaris, it was N’Zoth himself who played it on you." Baine was very confused. "I understand that it's something difficult to process, I also had a hard time believing it when Wrathion explained this to me, but then I started seeing things and linking others… It's very long to explain and now I don't have enough time, but you have to know where the real threat is."

"Wait a minute," Ebyssian interrupted. "how many people under control are out there?"

"Right now there are only two left, Azshara and someone we don't know. Before, there were others distributed throughout the world, there weren't many and Wrathion liquidated them all."

"Was there a controlled one in Highmountain when you came?" Wrathion nodded. "How many were there? An entire town?" Wrathion didn't answer. "You recognize it... Murderer..."

"What's wrong?" Anduin asked.

"I knew it, you killed them for no apparent reason..." Ebyssian looked at Anduin. "Didn't he tell you that he devastated an entire town in Highmountain?" Anduin looked at him confused. "Of course he omitted that detail. When he was there, I suddenly received the news that a young boy had murdered two entire families in a small town, and when I went to capture him, I caught him murdering the last remaining family. And not only that, once he ran away, I investigated his steps... It wasn't the first time he did it and it wasn't the last."

"You shouldn't talk about things you don't understand." Wrathion said threateningly stepping forward.

"He has the right to know what you really do. You may have killed people who were under mind control by an old god, but you also killed innocent people and started in Northrend."

"You have no idea what was really happening! It wasn't my fault!" Wrathion raised his voice.

"I know you're not natural! I see it inside you, I don't know what you are, but a dragon, no. Your magic, your size, your unnatural growth and a most strange presence. You're weird, I guess that's why you go around murdering people."

"_KOS’HI MINDOK’MEYJ ENSOS’GA GAAN ITSH’IN_!" Wrathion yelled at him.

"_KOS’HI RUTH KRIID, ENSOS’GA KRII’HI!_" both dragons grabbed after roaring, but Baine pushed Ebyssian away and Anduin took Wrathion away.

"Calm down!" Anduin said to him. "You told me that you wouldn't get violent, please, stop." Wrathion continued with that look of hatred and anger. He roared once more and broke away from Anduin. He walked away from them and sat on the seashore. Ebyssian seemed calmer, but he was angry too.

"Sorry about that." Ebyssian apologized to Anduin. "But you should know that you have someone very dangerous by your side."

"I'll talk to him later. But this wasn't the objective of this meeting."

"What's that over there?" Baine asked, pointing to Anduin's back. The young king turned around and saw the red flare, Jaina's signal.

"Oh no, I must go soon." Anduin looked at Baine. "I don't have much time, so, laying cards on the table... Baine, I wanted to talk to you because I know that you don't want this war. I have a suspicion that Sylvanas has you backed into a corner and I want to help you, I need this conflict to disappear to defeat N’Zoth."

"What you ask for is impossible."

"I believed that the existence of N’Zoth was impossible until I saw him so… I need us to join forces against him. N’Zoth wants us to kill each other and have a free way to control the titan that sleeps on our planet, if he ends up doing it, it will be the end of everything and I cannot allow it. I want you to join me."

"What?"

"We can work together, I can't give you the details now, but we have a plan. It won't be in the name of the Alliance or the Horde, we will do it only on our own. I'm not interested in Horde's plans, I don't want your information, I just want your help to understand N’Zoth's plans."

"I don't... It would be treason... I can't do that... I can't betray the Horde." Anduin looked sad, but took something out of his pocket. Baine was surprised to see that it was the piece of horn that he had sent him in a letter when he explained that they could no longer be friends.

"This was your way to symbolize our friendship, and for me it was very important, our friendship is above the Alliance or the Horde. I know you feel the same. I'm willing to take the risk for your help... And if something happens to you, I will defend you at all costs." Baine looked down and clenched his fists.

"I can't betray the Horde..." he repeated as if trying to convince himself. Anduin became discouraged and looked at him in a very sad way.

"It's true," Anduin put the piece of horn into his pocket again. "I don't know what I was thinking... I'm sorry, Baine, it was stupid to tell you all this, I was only daydreaming." Anduin took a step back and looked away. "I've asked too much. Sorry." Baine shook his head.

"Anduin." he looked at Baine. "The Horde is my home and my treasure." Baine raised his head. "But your friendship is also important. We can... try... if it's true that there is a threat like N’Zoth." Anduin's eyes lit up. "But I don't know how to start."

"Meet me!" the young king put his hands on the shoulders of the tauren. "Come to the northern part of Tiragarde, near the pass between the Stormsong Valley and Tiragarde, in an area called Evergreen Grove. I will tell you everything that's happening, I promise you. We have a hidden house where we can meet, trust me. In how many days do you think you could come?" Baine thought for a few seconds.

"Well... At least a week, but... Are you sure?"

"Totally." Anduin held out his hand and, after a few seconds, Baine shook it. "We will see each other soon and everything will be clear."

"You have my trust, you are one of the noblest people I know, my friend." Baine looked at Ebyssian and shook his head. "Let's get out of here, time to retreat."

Ebyssian transformed back into the towering dragon that he is. Baine climbed onto his back and waved goodbye to Anduin. The young king was very happy, he could count on him after everything that happened. He used a little emotional blackmail to convince him, it was a bit of a dirty trick, but it was necessary. Baine was one of the most decent people in the Horde, if he ended up joining the guardians, he would be an important ally.

That little happiness didn't last long, as he turned around and saw Wrathion, his smile faded. The dragon was still sitting on the shore throwing stones into the water. Ebyssian had accused him of several murders, a very serious crime. Until now, Anduin thought Wrathion only went to places to kill N'Zoth's servants, but now that Anduin heard that, he couldn't get it out of his head. Anduin approached the dragon.

"Wrathion," the dragon didn't answer or turn around. "is it true what Ebyssian said?" Wrathion didn't answer while holding a stone. "Is it true that you killed innocents?" Wrathion took a deep breath and gently threw the stone.

"It's true." Anduin was speechless, he almost didn't believe it, he really...?

"Why?"

"You won't understand me." that was an excuse he used to say, and Anduin had enough of that. He walked until he was a step away from him.

"Stop saying that to me!" he said angrily. "Tell me the truth! Why!?" Wrathion glared at him and threw another stone into the water with all his strength. He got up from the ground and approached him with a threatening aura that made Anduin take a couple of steps back.

"Because I couldn't distinguish the real from the unreal." Anduin frowned in confusion. "Didn't you understand me? Wow! Just what I told you, you won't understand me."

"Maybe if for once you decide to explain things to me."

"For what? So that you still won't understand me? I have no obligation to tell you such a thing." Anduin was angry at hearing that.

"What's your problem, Wrathion? What's wrong? Do you think I'm going to put you in prison for the things you've done? Or is it something else? Do you think I will judge you? I don't like that you killed innocents, but I'd rather you tell me the real reason. Why do you never want to tell me anything?"

"To you? The boy who couldn't fit in being the ruler? You don't even understand how the world works, much less you will understand the things that happened to me." Anduin's face changed upon hearing that, his whole face seemed to fall into indifference to hide the pain. Anduin turned away from Wrathion.

"Look, you know what? Go home alone." Wrathion’s face also changed, but Anduin didn't know if it was anger, sadness or both at the same time, as if he was about to cry.

"I don't have a home!"

Wrathion turned around and ran into the water. Before he started to sink, he transformed into a dragon and flew away as fast as he could. Anduin sat down and put his hands to his head. He was unable to understand him and felt very distressed. He suspected that there was something in Wrathion's past that was very wrong, and not necessarily because he killed people, but something serious happened to him. But just like since they met again, Wrathion was very closed and said nothing. Once the anguish was gone, he began to walk briskly down the coast. He had to find the ships, he knew they wouldn't leave him behind.

This was confirmed after several minutes when he saw the fleet retreating. They were going to come back using the same route, so they had to go through there. As it was already quite dark, Anduin signaled with the Light until someone spotted him and gave the alarm. Jaina went for him on her flying ice disc and took him aboard on one of Tyrande's ships. Genn kept inspecting him everywhere for injuries, but Anduin was fine. Between Genn and Tess they brought him up to date on what happened. Shortly after Anduin left, the Horde dispersed a bit because their leader, Baine, was gone too. So they took advantage until all the civilians boarded safely.

With the news that they could retreat, Genn and Turalyon led them to the ships to flee. The Horde chased after them, but since Genn used the flare to call Jaina, it didn't take long for them to turn around as soon as they saw both the Kul Tiras fleet and the Seventh Legion fleet approaching.

Jaina also clarified that the naval battle went well, although she lost several ships, they were able to raze several ships of the Horde too. But she couldn't remove the blockade they were making, so they could officially say that the draenei lost their home.

"Hey, Anduin," said Tess. “where is Wrathion? Wasn't he with you?" Anduin looked away.

"He's gone."

"Gone?" she asked puzzled. "Where?"

"I don't know. He's angry so I don't know when he will be back."

Anduin watched on the port side as he turned away from the islands rather discouraged. He had been very angry with Wrathion before, but now that the heat of anger had passed, he was very concerned. He didn't know where Wrathion went and if he was going back soon. He wanted to believe Wrathion would be back soon, but the anguish was in his chest and it hurt. Now that he saw the islands from afar, he noticed a certain detail. The landscape of a big darkness above the islands reminded him of something.

It was the same landscape he saw in his nightmare.

The small difference was that there was no energy from the Void, it was just the darkness of the night, but he could see the similarities. Anduin couldn't help but feel a certain uneasiness, it was as if he could have predicted that it would end like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendship ended with Wrathion, now Baine is my best friend. Nooooo, poor Wrathion, sometimes the emotions overcome him and Anduin doesn't know how to help him. I'll be pushing my Wranduin agenda a lot from now on, sorry, I can't help it ... it's just that they are soul mates, okay? :(  
See you next chapter!


	30. Horde's reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! How are you? I hope you're okay. I bring a new chapter to entertain today. I was finally able to get motivation to write new chapters and I was able to finish much of one, it seems silly but it took like 3 months with that particular chapter (what a disaster!). Now after 30 chapters I already start to say little things about the Horde that will open the way to the first adventure of this second part. I hope you like it.

"I can't be around people." Wrathion said in a sigh, lying on the floor in a fetal position and putting his hands on his head.

"Yes you can. Don't think that, don't fall back on those thoughts. You made a lot of progress when it comes to being around people, you can do it." a female voice answered.

"But I can't control myself, it always happens."

"It's okay if you lost it, Wrathion, it happens to all of us sometimes. But you shouldn't sink into the thought that you shouldn't get close to people. Interaction with beings is part of life, you cannot isolate yourself and pretend that you're alone."

"Still it always happens to me, right? 'No matter what you do, you will end up alone.'" Wrathion heard a click of tongue.

"Stop repeating N'Zoth's words, you shouldn't think about the things he said." Wrathion preferred not to answer. "I'm seeing that you struck up a conversation with the other black dragon."

"It was he who triggered all my memories that I believed buried. They all started going through my mind in a chain, remembering things I had to bury."

"That's why I always tell you that you must accept and overcome them, not bury them, that won't help you. But at least you've talked to someone you can call family." Wrathion shrugged.

"He hates me, he will never be my family. But that's not important…"

"Why?" Wrathion felt a lump in his throat.

"I said something horrible..."

"To who?"

"To the person I love the most." she sighed.

"Have you argued with Anduin?"

"I didn't argue, I said something horrible and then ran away."

"I imagined that a chat with the other black dragon wasn't the only reason you came... Wrathion, everyone argues. Do you know that even people who are thick as thieves argue at some point? You aren't going to be the exception to the rule."

"And what do I do now?" she sighed again.

"The fact that you spent so much time alone really affected you. Let's see, a discussion is no reason not to speak again, with good will it can be fixed. If it's you who did something wrong, apologize."

"How? What if he doesn't forgive me?"

"From what I've seen of Anduin, he doesn't seem to be a resentful person. If you apologize properly, he will surely forgive you. I will tell you what to do. When you get out of here, take some time to fully relax, roll over the snow if you need to get rid of all the heat. Then you go look for him, ask him for a moment to speak, and tell him how sorry you are and that you didn't mean whatever you said." Wrathion sat down.

"He'll ask me about what happened to me. He won't let it go and I can't tell him anything, that would mean talking about you and I don't know what to do."

"Make him understand that you cannot, you're good at explaining things, even if you have a weakness for him."

"But…"

"Wrathion," the dragon noticed as if someone placed a hand on his cheek, although he knew it wasn't a real touch. "you shouldn't lose something that has cost you to recover, especially if you love and care. You have to do it." she sighed. "You can afford yourself to have friends and you can afford yourself to be happy." Wrathion took a deep breath.

"I'll go with him."

"That’s my boy, go with your friends and try to have fun even if things look bad. You have to get out of here now, N’Zoth will soon find us here and if he comes you won't like it."

"I'll try to keep in touch with you, but lately it's hard for me."

"Although we don't speak daily, you know that I'm always with you, I'm always here."

Wrathion felt a light touch on his chest and suddenly woke up in a cave. Although he was having trouble communicating, he was still able to reach her and exchange words.

But he could no longer dream, he had to go back at once and face the problem he got into. She always gave him the best advice and was always right in the things she said, Wrathion was going to follow the steps she gave him.

Wrathion climbed up the mountain until he reached the snow and began to roll on it. After the days that passed since his encounter with Ebyssian and his awakening of certain traumatic memories, his anguish and anger still lingered. Talking to her reassured him enough, but the dragon needed to cool down more if he was going to talk to Anduin, he shouldn't lose it in front of him ever again. There was a snowstorm in the mountains that separated the Stormsong Valley and Tiragarde. Wrathion thought that in Boralus it would surely be raining a lot, he didn't know if it would be a good time to talk but... it was night and he could catch Anduin alone. It was actually the best time.

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Once the draenei were rescued, Anduin was surrounded by papers. After crossing The Great Sea again for several days, the two fleets returned to Boralus, but the two ships with the refugees went directly to Stormwind. Anduin was very glad that they had Arathi under control and could send refugees there, otherwise the city would have collapsed. It wasn't until the next day that he took over the paperwork. Tyrande told him through a letter that she couldn't take care of them personally, they could come if they wanted, but she couldn't help them with the distribution because she had a lot of work with her own people. After knowing that, Anduin spent a few days in Stormwind helping to distribute them and discuss. He ended up quite burdened doing identification papers with Muradin to try to help the new displaced race since, again, Stormwind and Ironforge were going to be the main host cities, only a few would go to Arathi. He was encouraged as soon as a confidential letter arrived. It was brief, but it was from Baine saying that he could go to Tiragarde in two days under the excuse that he had to find a place for looting. For Anduin it was enough, he thought that Baine gave Sylvanas an excuse to travel and that he really wouldn't do such a thing.

Anduin, accompanied by Genn, returned to Boralus one morning after the draenei had a place to go and shared the resources. Velen would be staying in the Eastern Kingdoms for his people, so he wouldn't see him for a long time. Anduin didn't know how to take it, on one hand he was his mentor and used to teach him good healing techniques, on the other hand he would stop hearing creepy things like he was moving away from the path of Light. Anduin didn't notice that it was so, he no longer used to hear voices as much except in dreams.

He had some hope of finding Wrathion in Boralus. Since the little fight they had, he didn't know anything about him and, if that wasn't enough, he spent several days in Stormwind, they couldn't fix it. But apparently the dragon wasn't in Boralus either once the young king got there, no one had seen him and Anduin couldn't help but worry. He went to the secret house before anything else, but he didn't find him there or anywhere he used to go. The search had to stop as soon as it began to rain heavily in the afternoon.

It had been a long time since a storm of that kind had fallen, Anduin stayed at Proudmoore Keep to avoid catching a cold. He spent much of the afternoon in the company of the Greymane talking about the first thing that crossed their minds or playing board games. Dereck was playing Legiuns with Anduin, but for the young king it wasn't so much fun without Wrathion, the dragon was very good and the games were exciting.

He was starting to miss him a lot and it had only been a week.

After dinner, Anduin went straight to his room, he didn't feel like doing anything. As he showered, he kept thinking that tomorrow would be the big day, he would clear things up with Baine. Although a part of him imagined the worst thinking that he would reject him or that he would come with an army. He quickly got the idea out of his mind, Baine was a good person. When he got out of the shower he didn't feel sleepy so, with the sound of the storm in the background, Anduin sat down at his desk to read some papers while he dried his hair with a towel. In general, he wasn’t reading anything he didn't know; comments on the rescue of the draenei, casualties, state of the army and economy... There was only one paper that caught his attention, one from Jaina asking for help with the Drustvar affair. Civilians were very scared with the continuous kidnappings and the Waycrest house didn't find the solution.

A few knocks brought him out of his thoughts. At first he looked at the door, but frowned realizing that the sound didn't come from there, but behind him. Anduin looked at the balcony and got extremely amazed, Wrathion was there giving little head butts on the glass to attract attention. It took Anduin several seconds of realization to react, once he blinked quickly, got up and opened the balcony door.

"But what are you doing?" asked the young king in amazement.

Wrathion didn't move, so Anduin grabbed him by the arm and dragged him inside. The dragon was completely soaked from head to toe and began to leave a puddle of water on the ground. When Anduin touched his arm, he realized he was too cold, which was strange.

"You're freeze..." Anduin murmured, running his hand over the dragon's head. "Where have you been? I was worried!" as he ran his hand through the jacket, Anduin saw small traces of snow. "Is this real snow?"

"I was rolling on it." Wrathion's voice sounded a bit harsh.

"Why?" Wrathion didn't answer. "Wait a moment, you're leaving a big puddle."

Anduin opened the only closet there was, picked up a couple of pieces of clothing he used to wear as pajamas and then went into the bathroom to get a clean towel. Wrathion was still, his gaze completely lost. Anduin began to find his behavior strange now and offered him dry clothes.

"Although you're a little taller than me, I think we have the same size. Dry yourself and put this on before you fill it all with water." Wrathion didn't take the clothes. "Please."

Wrathion finally decided to move, accepting Anduin's clothes and going into the bathroom for a few minutes to change. Anduin still wasn't out of his amazement, he didn't understand what had happened to him, but the dragon showed too much sorrow. Wrathion came out in long blue pants and a white T-shirt. His hair was still wet when he sat on the bed and Anduin decided to throw the small towel he had been using for his head.

"I don't know if dragons can catch colds, but it's better if you dry your hair." Anduin went to the bathroom. "I'm going to hang your clothes to dry." the young king found the dragon's clothes in a ball and sighed. He hung it on the side of the curtains to dry. Upon leaving, he saw that the dragon hadn't moved an inch. "Wrathion?" Anduin sat next to him quickly. "You don't know how to do it or what?" Anduin placed his hands on the dragon's head and moved them to dry his hair.

"Sorry..." he said suddenly almost in a sigh. Anduin stopped.

"What?"

"I apologize for everything I told you, I'm sorry." he repeated very sadly. Anduin sighed and removed the towel to see his face.

"Wrathion... What happened to you?" Wrathion looked slightly to the other side, but Anduin placed his hand on his cheek and made him look at him. "Look at me, tell me the truth." the dragon looked at him regretfully.

"It was... I got angry and I couldn't think clearly anymore."

"I know you lost it, but I want to know why. I don't mind that you told me that."

"I..." Wrathion stopped to think what he was going to say. "There are things in my past that I don't want to remember. What Ebyssian said was one of them. I didn't kill them because I wanted to, it was because of..."

"You couldn't distinguish the real from the unreal, is what you told me." Anduin took a few seconds to think when he realized something. "One moment... N’Zoth... Did he make you see something that wasn't there?" Wrathion lowered his head, he couldn't look into his eyes. "Is that what happened?" the dragon nodded slowly. "What did he make you see, exactly?"

"No." Wrathion's tone of voice became almost pleading and Anduin understood that he shouldn't continue pushing. Whatever N’Zoth did to him, it shouldn't have been nice, he understood.

"Okay, okay... I guess that's the summary of your three missing years." Wrathion looked at him. "You know, you're pretending indifference and that you don't care, but it's a mask that you use so that nobody sees that you're actually sensitive... You must have had a hard time in recent years if it affects you so much... The truth, Wrathion, is that you're starting to worry me a lot."

"Why?"

"You're my best friend, remember? And I would like to help you, but I don't know how."

"Not talking about my past, just that. I want it to go away..."

"That doesn't work like that. If you want to get rid of something you should speak it," before Wrathion said something, Anduin covered his mouth with one hand. "when you're ready."

"Ready?"

"I know it's not nice to be forced to talk about something that hurts you, so when you feel ready to talk freely about it, will you tell me everything?" Wrathion's expression changed, his gaze softened and he seemed very weak. He didn't think he deserved so much kindness. The dragon got closer to Anduin and rested his forehead on his shoulder.

"You're too good to me…"

Anduin noticed that Wrathion moved closer. As his hair was still slightly wet, Anduin's shoulder quickly moistened, but he thought he realized what Wrathion wanted. Was the dragon looking for a hug but was he ashamed to ask for it or do it? Anduin found him adorable, so he gave him a reassuring hug and noticed that Wrathion calmed down quickly. But he began to notice something else, a small roar and a tremor that came from the dragon's chest. Anduin separated and looked at him in surprise with a small smile.

"You purr!" Wrathion frowned.

"Dragons don't purr."

"I heard you and noticed the little vibration."

"It's not, it's a very low roar, nothing more."

"Well... that’s a purr."

"I'm not a feline!" Anduin smiled slightly, at least they were beginning to behave towards each other as always. He gave him another hug again and Wrathion was in heaven again.

"Tomorrow Baine will come, it will be more or less in the afternoon."

"Did he send you a letter?"

"Yes... Ebyssian will also come." Wrathion separated, but didn't look at him angry. "With what happened in the Bloodmyst Isle, he wanted to come, it was logic."

"He hates me."

"If you explain-"

"He won't believe me. I shouldn't be there when you meet."

"Of course you should, you're a guardian of Azeroth and you're the one who knows most about N’Zoth and everything that happens. You have to come... Regarding your problem with Ebyssian, let me solve it, trust me. I would just ask you to remain calm and don't lose it no matter what happens, just that." Wrathion rubbed his eyes.

"Okay." Wrathion got up. "Go to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't you want to stay?"

"I need to mentally prepare if I'm going." Wrathion smiled weakly at him. "You should rest."

"Remember that you have your clothes here."

Wrathion nodded before walking out the door. The truth is that he couldn't continue with him for two reasons. First, Wrathion wasn't sure that he could keep the lie. He couldn't even look at his face when he agreed to the theory that N’Zoth made him see something, it was a big lie. But even if it hurt to lie like that, the dragon had no other choice, he couldn't tell the truth, and he couldn't think of any other way to let it pass. The second was even more personal and Wrathion was embarrassed to think about it. Anduin had showered and smelled too good, so much that it was driving him crazy. He couldn't put it into words how something so simple affected him, but dragons had a very fine nose and it was the only thing he noticed when he was hugging him. Wrathion went to a small room they lent him. Katherine ended up leaving it out of grief, but he hardly used it, only when he needed to be alone. He had to completely relax and control himself if he was going to see Ebyssian again. This whole meeting was important to Anduin, he had to make the effort.

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Anduin had a lot of energy, it was going to be the most anticipated day of his life and his whole body knew it. He was somewhat hyperactive and caused Genn to raise his eyebrow more than once in the morning. Wrathion returned the clothes Anduin had loaned him and spent all day with him. Anduin was glad that he seemed to be somewhat more calm, but when the moment came, he became very serious. Tess and Dereck went looking for them when the afternoon came. Neither of them were very sure when Anduin told them about the plan, but he didn't blame them, it was obvious that they distrusted members of the Horde. But the young king still thought it was necessary.

The path that connected Tiragarde with the Stormsong Valley used to be quiet in the early afternoon. Normally people took a nap at that time, just after eating, to digest, so the place wasn't used too much. Near the area was the forest called Evergreen Grove, it was the point he told Baine to go. They waited for the arrival, distributing themselves a little along the path that crossed the forest.

Wrathion commented that he noticed Ebyssian's magic power nearby, and Anduin stopped feeling impatient. It wasn't long before Tess said she saw them. The four of them moved near the highest path when, on the other side, they finally saw them. Anduin saw that Ebyssian was there with a third person whom he didn't know, a tauren, although he thought he had seen her before. Anduin gestured for them to come quickly, the tauren crossed the road hoping that no one would see them.

"Hello." Anduin greeted. "I hope it wasn't very problematic to come."

"Sylvanas finds it amusing to send me on these reconnaissance missions, so far there is no problem as long as it's not something abusive, they might be suspicious."

"I'll keep that in mind." Anduin looked at the tauren. "May I ask...?"

"Oh sure. She is Mayla Highmountain." the young king opened his eyes in surprise.

"The leader of the Highmountain Tauren?" Anduin approached her holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you. They told me that you helped a lot to get the Hammer of Khaz’goroth when the Burning Legion attacked last year, it is a pleasure." Mayla shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, King Wrynn. Baine spoke highly of you." she replied.

"You don't have to be formal with me, no problem." Mayla nodded happily.

"She is here because Ebonhorn has a duty to inform her of everything he knows." Baine clarified. "Besides, she is very tired of the situation in the Horde and wants to know if there are bigger threats. You can trust her, I promise you can trust her."

"Well, if you trust her, me too."

"And he wasn't gone?" Ebyssian asked pointing to Wrathion, he seemed quite calm.

"Wrathion is part of us and is the one who knows the situation the most. Whatever happened between you two, he has to stay."

"What happened is not something I will ignore."

"Time out," said Tess. "just a suggestion. Instead of staying here to talk where someone can see us, could we go home?"

"It's true." Anduin said. "Follow us."

The three tauren followed the group closely until they reached the house. Wrathion temporarily removed the magic trap so it wouldn't affect them. Baine was surprised to see a ruined house, but as soon as he crossed the barrier, he was surprised.

"Wow..." Baine said amazed. "This is..."

"Illusion magic." Ebyssian clarified.

"It's a good place to hide." Anduin said. Then he looked at Tess. "I told you that one day this place would be useful." Tess frowned.

"But it was me who said that." she replied angrily.

"I want an explanation." Ebyssian insisted, looking at Wrathion.

"It wasn't my fault." Wrathion clarified.

"That doesn't work for me."

"Wait," Anduin stood in front of him. "I can explain what happened although it will probably sound very confusing, but if you leave me, I promise it will be worth it." Anduin sighed. "You and I don't know each other, maybe you don't want to believe me, but I trust Wrathion a lot and he told me. N’Zoth has mental powers. Apparently, through the controlled one he had on Highmountain, he made Wrathion see something unreal, probably an enemy or worse."

"And why did he kill those tauren?"

"Because he made him see that illusion in the tauren. It's as if you, instead of seeing me, saw an enemy, it's an illusion. N’Zoth can do that, is what happened."

"N’Zoth is the being with the most powerful mental power on this planet." Wrathion said. "It wasn't my fault."

"And did he do that to all the people you killed?" Ebyssian asked. "If it happened to you once, couldn't you have foreseen it?"

"I couldn't distinguish it." Wrathion replied.

"I think the real reason..." Anduin said. "is that Wrathion was working alone." Wrathion looked at him in surprise. "If he had been with someone who wasn't affected by the deception, perhaps he wouldn't have killed anyone. But if he was alone, N’Zoth could do that to him every time."

Wrathion was surprised by Anduin's reasoning. Although he had to lie to him that it was an illusion of N’Zoth, he was right in saying that the problem was that he was alone. If someone had gone with him, he would never have accidentally killed. Ebyssian sighed as he meditated, but he looked at Anduin calmly.

"I know it's more complicated than it appears." Anduin said. "But if it makes any difference, Wrathion betrayed me some time ago when he released a war prisoner. The truth is that he broke my heart, but you see that I have no grudge against him, here we are fighting against an old god, we're friends."

"Why?" Ebyssian asked.

"There are more important things going on than a fight from the past. Wrathion isn't a bad person, really. As much as he loses it, he's still an irreplaceable friend. I'm serious." Ebyssian looked a little surprised, there was something in Anduin's eyes that calmed him.

"You are a very peculiar human..." he concluded. "I am going to believe you for now, although if by chance I discover that it is a lie, I will go for both of you." Ebyssian looked at Wrathion. "Although this doesn't explain to me the unnatural within you."

Wrathion said nothing and instead headed to the house. Ebyssian realized something. There was something about Anduin that struck him as very curious. Baine told him that he wasn't like the others, he radiated a kindness and sincerity that you could rarely see in other people. Now that he exchanged words with him, he noticed that Anduin used to project a special inner light. Ebyssian thought it was because the young king was a priest, but none he had met seemed to be as genuine as Anduin. It might not be because he was a Light user, simply that Anduin was a good person and that was immediately obvious. He supposed that was the reason a murderer like Wrathion was with him, because he could relax him. Or the reason why Baine got along so well with him, people who transmit something like that wasn't easy to find.

Anduin invited them inside the house in the small living room. It was spacious enough for everyone to be there. The table was low and they had no chairs, so they used cushions to sit on. Wrathion brought cold drinks as they'd be talking for a while, but not before running the cold glass down Dereck's nape and making him squirm a bit. Anduin stared at the peculiar situation. Baine and Mayla chuckled at Dereck's reaction, Tess laughed as she filled a few glasses, Ebyssian conveyed calm by picking up a glass, and Wrathion sat down using Anduin's arm as a backrest. Anduin didn't know how he had ended up in a house with two black dragons, two humans, two tauren and him as if they were a group of friends who met in the afternoons.

Wrathion was the one who did the whole lengthy explanation about N’Zoth. He began by explaining that the old god went unnoticed because he was locked up at the bottom of the sea. Unless you were an intelligent race that could hold out so long in the water, it was almost impossible to find him. In this way N’Zoth went unnoticed all those millennia, the memory of him was forgotten and became a myth. At first, he had enough mental power to mind control beings like Deathwing, whispering to him in dreams and later in reality. Others like Azshara or Zul fell into his networks later. Apart from certain events during the cataclysm that Deathwing caused a few years ago, N'Zoth didn't take too much action, his power was weakened by being locked up and he liked to play the game of eternal patience, he only made some movements that nowadays were irrelevant. Wrathion explained that, before the game changed, he became aware of the threat because of an oversight of the old god and began to hunt down all the controlled people he encountered, something that did well for a time. But the game changed dramatically when Sargeras stabbed his sword into Silithus, all the bad things started there. N’Zoth's prison cracked as the whole of Azeroth trembled, causing his power to cease to be in a sleepy state. That wound Azeroth received was a gift to N'Zoth.

As his power increased, his influence on the controlled ones increased too. The burning of Teldrassil and the manipulations to divide the Alliance and the Horde were simple. But N’Zoth made a mistake. Wrathion described it as a 'desperate' action. Seeing that his prison was coming down, N’Zoth could smell his freedom, that led him to take no complex actions and changed the game to something very simple. He was so desperate to get out that the whole plan with Uldir failed him, he didn't have the patience it required and tried to speed up the process. But with how calm he had been lately, he seemed to have learned his lesson, so they had to expect the worst.

When he spoke of the Azerite, more attention was paid. He couldn't explain exactly how N’Zoth's mental power worked, but explaining it simply was the solution. What Azerite had was like an illusion spell, just by touching it you could see your most ambitious dream come true, but to make it real, you had to use Azerite. That was the reason why almost everyone turned violent or simply changed their attitude to try to grab as much Azerite as possible. The goal with all of that was simple: The Horde and the Alliance had to cut the ties that bound them against the Burning Legion. If they killed each other, N’Zoth would be unstoppable.

"It makes sense." Baine said. "Right after the defeat of the Legion, there was a period of peace. In those days, the Highmountain tauren and the Shaldorei joined the Horde, it was a fairly smooth transition. But when the existence of the Azerite became known, almost everyone changed... Especially Sylvanas."

"Did Sylvanas ever tell you what she saw with the Azerite?" Anduin asked.

"Well... She never said it textually, but... She only hinted once that she would be like a goddess thanks to this war."

"The goddess of stupidity?" Wrathion asked sarcastically.

"I don't know more of her ideas, she doesn't usually tell me anything, she became suspicious of everyone. Shortly after the Azerite appeared she started to comment on certain attack plans."

"I suppose the attack on Teldrassil." Tess said.

"No, actually the first plan was to attack Stormwind." Anduin looked at him very surprised. "But many opposed it and we didn't have enough Azerite, so she changed it to Teldrassil after a few days."

"But why?" Anduin asked.

"I can't say details, I already said that she doesn't usually say anything to me. She wants to destroy the Alliance, she says that you want to eradicate us and we must not allow it. In addition, she said that someone would help us with Teldrassil."

"Who?"

"I don't know, I never knew. You said a controlled one burned Teldrassil, so I suppose it was that one. Also, she said..." everyone looked at her expectantly and curiously. "I know it sounds crazy, but one day she said that a voice was guiding her."

"That has to be N’Zoth." Dereck said.

"No." Wrathion denied. "It can't be N’Zoth."

"How is that?" Anduin asked.

"Do you know how the 'brain' of an undead works?" Wrathion made a gesture of quotation marks when pronouncing brain, but the others didn't nod. "Let's say that it works by echoes, as if it were a memory. They no longer have a brain that is alive and cannot have real feelings. But the echoes of the past allow them to make decisions. For example; If a father dies and is resurrected as a Forsaken, when he sees his family, he won’t be able to feel the love or affection he had for them, but an echo comes from his subconscious that says 'it's your family, you loved them' and then he makes his decisions based on it. If he sees someone he hated, the echo will tell him that he hated them and probably kill them."

"So... what happens to Sylvanas?"

"It seems that the Azerite can modify that echo, N’Zoth could modify it because it's still a kind of memory and is something mental. However, if you tell me that a voice speaks to Sylvanas without using Azerite... That can't be N’Zoth."

"Why?"

"Because you cannot mentally manipulate something that is dead, her brain is dead, it doesn't have the synapses that the living have to manipulate it mentally, do you understand? I don't know if I'm explaining it well. If a voice speaks and guides her, it has to be a powerful necromancer or a being with power over death, not for a being from the Void, it has nothing to do with it."

"Wait," said Tess. "so we have a third enemy?"

"Considering that death is outside N'Zoth's field, it seems that we do."

"This is getting good..." Dereck said sarcastically.

"Whoever it is," Baine said. "because of it we are in a bad position. The only positive thing we have had in all this time has been that the Zandalaris joined us."

"What other things happened as well?" Anduin asked.

"Sylvanas began to act strange... well, more than usual, she was close to paranoia many times. Anyone who questioned her a bit was, in her eyes, a potential traitor. She has locked up many generals, that was the softest thing. The strongest thing is that she killed some and raised them as Forsaken to tie them to her will."

"Are you serious? That's horrible!"

"That’s not all. On one occasion, an orc opposed her because he didn't feel comfortable massacring a small town of unarmed humans, he said that if he fought it would be with honor. And as punishment, Sylvanas burned down the house where he lived and some of his boys."

"She's crazy." Tess stated.

"That's not new..." Wrathion murmured.

"And no one said anything within the Horde?" Anduin asked.

"Of course some said something, but now they are either locked up or dead. This is what I meant by paranoia. But she is convinced that she is leading us on the right path."

"So... does she have you all threatened?" Baine nodded.

"If she found out that I'm here, Thunder Bluff would be on fire tomorrow."

"And then there is the 'salvation'..." Mayla commented.

"The what?" Anduin wanted to know.

"It was something she said when the Zandalaris joined us." Baine explained. "She was talking to Nathanos very seriously. We only overheard it, but we understood that she agreed with the union because that way she could save more people from a terrible destiny... through the resurrection."

"I don't get it." Tess said.

"She wants to make us all Forsaken."

"What?" Anduin said. "But that is... And what about the free will that she used to talk about so much?" Baine just shrugged.

"Well, if we're all Forsaken, she will be the queen." Wrathion added. "We would be tied to her will because she would raise us up."

"This is crazy." Anduin said. "You can't keep going on like this."

"And what are we going to do?" Baine asked. "She has the majority of the Horde in her favor, if it's not for being Forsaken it's because Sylvanas promised blood of the Alliance. Those of us who disagree with her live under constant threat. Only one with authority faced her and Sylvanas gave him to the Alliance."

"Who?" Anduin thought about it. "Varok?"

"Yes. They argued in the Teldrassil attack and then in the Lordaeron siege. Saurfang stayed behind to cover our escape, but between us, he did it because he couldn't bear to be with Sylvanas."

"Wait a minute." Dereck interrupted. "There's something I don't understand. Sylvanas always had homicidal tendencies and has no moral code, it's not something new, and I know many distrusted her before all this. So why did Vol’jin name her Warchief?"

"You know? That's what we started wondering about when the Zandalaris joined us and we heard Sylvanas say that." Baine looked at Mayla. "We tried to look for answers..."

"We tried to communicate with Vol’jin," added Mayla. "but it didn't go very well."

"What happened?" Anduin asked.

"Vol’jin is in the Shadowlands, there is only death there." Baine said. "But, with the help of Talanji, we were able to see him. Talanji doesn't trust Sylvanas much either, so she helped us. But we were barely able to communicate with Vol’jin, we only heard his voice a few times. We asked him why and he only said that a spirit told him. But when we asked who it was, we only heard 'someone in control' before the connection was cut, so we were in a dead end."

"And who can have control?" Anduin looked at Wrathion. "Could N’Zoth whisper the name to him?"

"Vol’jin had one foot inside the realm of the dead when he named Sylvanas and there was no Azerite to manipulate him. No, that has been some being from the Shadowlands, someone who knew this would happen if she was Warchief, someone with the power to do this. Surely it's the same being that tells Sylvanas what to do."

"Exactly, we thought the same," Ebyssian intervened. "that's why we asked the only two beings we know with big power over death if they knew something: Bwonsamdi and Eyir."

"And…?" Wrathion wanted to know. Ebyssian crossed his arms.

"Bwonsamdi said that there must be a balance between life and death, that Sylvanas is breaking that balance and on top of that she keeps the ones she kills, he is not benefited at all, he doesn't know anything about this matter. Eyir said that what happened to Vol’jin was beyond her power and that she doesn't like Sylvanas. We don't know any other beings that can shed light on the matter so we are in a dead end again."

"Are you completely sure that they didn't lie?" Wrathion asked seriously.

"Not that we know of. Can you think of any being or spirit that could help us?" everyone was thoughtful.

"The Lich King?" Wrathion muttered.

"He died, don't you remember?" Anduin said.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot." Wrathion looked away. Actually, the Lich King was alive and well. Anduin scratched his head excessively.

"This is very complicated, what on Azeroth is going on in the world? Now apart from an old god and the Void we also have this issue with beings from the Shadowlands. I don't even know what to think."

"Let's see, the conclusion of all this..." Wrathion sat down well. "First, the Horde lives in a dictatorship. Second, someone told Vol’jin to name Sylvanas as Warchief in order to start a carnage. Third, N'Zoth modified Sylvanas's echoes with the Azerite so she had the idea that she would be the queen of the mountain and then, the same being that whispered to Vol'jin, whispers to Sylvanas what she should do and the war started. I don't think it's a coincidence, N’Zoth and that being may be collaborating, but for now we don't know who it is. Personally, I would investigate this, we must know what allies N’Zoth has."

"And where do we start?" Tess asked.

"Before that, we need a favor," Baine said. "an important one."

"I listen." Anduin said.

"We need Varok Saurfang." Anduin opened his mouth.

"What? Why?"

"He argued with Sylvanas the day Teldrassil burned and... I think he knows who helped Sylvanas to do it. We don't have the means to burn the tree, I always knew it was a third party. But Saurfang was upset that day, I think he knows something, but I have to ask him. Also, I need him for everything that happens in the Horde, I need his advice if we want to survive."

"Baine, I'm not arguing with you, really, it's a good idea. But do you know what you ask me? It's impossible! We can't get the most important orc out of Stormwind's dungeons and bring him here."

"We need him."

Wrathion got up. The drink ran out so he began to stretch excessively. He didn't think getting Varok out was a problem, but Anduin repeated several times that it was very complicated. Wrathion went outside to stretch his legs while the others continued arguing, the sun was setting and soon it would be night. He was deep in thought and didn't want to be distracted. All they said was troubling, having another enemy who could control the dead this way and who was an ally of N’Zoth wasn't what he wanted to hear the most, but it hurt him more not knowing who could be.

"_You know it, right?_" Wrathion looked back. Hearing the Draconic, he knew it was Ebyssian.

"_Know_ w_hat_?"

"_That there must always be a Lich King_." Wrathion clicked his tongue.

"_Very few know it, only beings with enough power or knowledg__e. Actually, I think __those who know that fact nowadays can be counted on the fingers of one hand__._"

"_It would be interesting to ask him if he knows something_."

"_I was thinking of going today when the meeting is over_."

"_I will go with you_." Wrathion blinked.

"_No._"

"_I don't care if you don't want to. This is my business too and I must know._" Wrathion just looked at him suspiciously. "_I'm not going to bite you, what you did long ago has gone into the background, this is important._"

"_Will you tell Mayla?_"

"_I can't tell you about the Lich King, but I have to know the truth. Mayla said recently that she wanted to leave the Horde because of everything that was happening, she regretted joining. But we need to be with them, our survival depends on it, now more than ever knowing the truth. If __in order __to find answers I have to share a trip with you, then so be __it_."

"_I don't feel like going with you_." Ebyssian took a few steps towards him.

"_I don't care_." he said slowly.

"Guys," Anduin caught up with them. "What are you talking about?" both dragons looked at everyone, it seemed that the tauren were going to leave and that they clarified everything.

"Wrathion and I are going to Northrend now." Ebyssian announced causing everyone to look at them with pure confusion, Wrathion sighed in defeat. "We know of people in the frozen continent who could tell us something about the being who whispered to Vol’jin and manipulates Sylvanas."

"Ebonhorn," Mayla approached him. "does it have to be now? You know things are not going well..."

"We need answers. It won't take us long, on a fast flight we can go and come in one day, we are fast."

"Wrathion," Anduin grabbed the dragon by the arm. "you can't go now. I just agreed with Baine that we would bring Varok here tomorrow, I need you."

Wrathion sighed and looked at Ebyssian. He could easily convince Mayla and they needed answers, he couldn't waste a minute. He took Anduin away from the others a bit to be alone and to talk quietly. Anduin leaned against a tree with his arms crossed.

"Anduin, we need to know the truth, I have to go."

"Can you go after helping me get Varok out?"

"You can do it alone, don't always depend on me."

"But-"

"You're not stupid, Anduin, you can do it on your own." the young king said nothing. Wrathion put a hand on the tree, to Anduin's right. "I thought you would like the fact that I go with Ebyssian." Anduin laughed.

"I like it, I like the idea that you get along with a relative. I just wanted your help."

"I'm sure you will manage well. And we will be fine, in one day we return and you will have Varok here, everything will be solved." Anduin rubbed his eyes, he would trust him.

"Hurry up, okay?"

Wrathion smiled at him softly and they returned to the others. Baine and Mayla prepared to return. Since their alibi was to find a looting place, it wouldn't cost them to come back tomorrow, but from there on they would need some time. That's why they insisted on Varok, they needed to talk to him soon.

"Well," said Wrathion. "everything fixed. We will see you all here tomorrow." he looked at Ebyssian. "Don't delay me, come on."

"As long as you're not too slow..."

Wrathion reactivated the protection trap again before leaving. Both dragons climbed the mountain slightly before transforming and taking flight. Anduin, Tess and Dereck said goodbye to Baine and Mayla temporarily and wished them luck on the return. They hoped they wouldn't raise suspicions with all of this. But Anduin's thoughts went elsewhere. Wrathion was the smartest and the one with the most solid plans, but now he would depend on his own for something he had never thought of. How was he going to get Varok out of Stormwind without being seen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dragons can purr and no one can convince me otherwise, even though Wrathion says no, I know they do it. LOL  
The Void, death... All negative energy in the Universe seems to come together. Speaking of Shadowlands... This story was written long before next expansion was announced (well, before N'Zoth patch in bfa even...) so it won't really be the same. It's funny to me how in part I was able to predict what Blizzard wanted to do with their Lore and in fact you will see many similarities throughout my history... It's similar to the canon, but we're going very different paths. I don't know if I can read Blizzard's intentions very easily or what, but I was still very funny (in fact there is a certain character that I predicted perfectly before Shadowlands was announced, but I can't say anything because otherwise I would end up doing spoiler of my own story although I wrote him a different role than the canon)  
Coincidences of life... I hope you liked this chapter and see you in the next one, until next time!


	31. A new clue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I discovered that you can change the background color on this website, it was a real find... Well, how are you? I hope you're well. I had problems this week, little motivation (or none) and poor sleep, you will notice while reading because the translation on this chapter is... cuestionable, or a bit off, but I just can't do it better with my mental situation now. Anyway, my first world problems I guess. I bring a new chapter to entertain, I hope you like it.

Anduin had trouble sleeping that night. He tried to come up with a plan to get Varok out, but every idea he had looked worse than the last. He began to fear that he wouldn't succeed when everyone depended on him. At breakfast, he didn’t look good and Genn worried for him. Anduin hid his mental chaos as best he could until Tess asked him personally. The young king admitted he couldn't come up with a plan. He expected Tess to say something to laugh or scold him, but instead, she told him that she tried to think of something, but nothing occurred to her either. But they still had time, it was still very early and they had until the afternoon to come up with something.

Anduin decided to take a walk around Boralus, he always did it when he needed to think, the fresh air that came from the sea calmed him. It would have been easier if Wrathion was here, he used to have good ideas. Maybe if he imitated some of the things Wrathion used to do, he would have some ideas. With that in mind, he headed to the Stormsong Monastery to see Leo. Wrathion became fond of the little boy and used to visit him to help with magical control. It had been a while since last time Anduin visited him, so it was a good opportunity.

It took him a while to find Leo once he got there, but the little boy found him first and ran to hug him. Leo was happy to see Anduin, but asked about Wrathion almost immediately. Anduin only gave the first excuse that came to him, the dragon was somewhere lost as always. Leo frowned because he wanted to show him something new, but instead, he would show it to Anduin. The young king had to wait sitting for a few minutes while Leo went to get an object, he returned with something quite familiar. The Abyssal Scepter was recently used to rescue the Draenei, so he recognized it quickly.

"I have learned how to create mist." Leo said smiling. "Sometimes I overextend a little, but do you want to see it?"

"Okay, show me."

Leo looked happy when he started using the Scepter. The mist began to slowly surround them without Anduin noticing much. Although it was magic, it looked like a natural phenomenon. Leo must have done something wrong when a lot of mist started coming out of the Scepter. Leo couldn't control it and they ended up completely surrounded by a cold and very dense mist, Anduin could hardly see even his own body.

"Leo."

"One moment, one moment!" a few seconds later, he made the mist disappear. "Ta-da! Mist! I have to practice, I know. Pike says I always overextend." Anduin stared at Leo. Maybe going to Wrathion's usual places was a better idea than he thought. "What's wrong?"

"Hey... come, come closer." Leo approached and Anduin lowered his voice a lot. "Would you like to participate in a super secret and super important mission?"

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"What do you mean get an eight year old boy into this?" Tess asked, frowning. "Anduin, stop taking whatever you are taking."

"It's not that crazy. I just saw Leo create denser mist than I saw in Nazmir. The plan is to go to Stormwind on an unregistered ship, have Leo make the mist so no one sees us, and we take Varok out of the dungeons. It's easy."

"That's not the problem! He's a kid, he can say something and this is top secret."

"I'll make sure he won't tell anyone."

"How?" Dereck asked. "Are you going to put a horse's head on his bed?" Anduin frowned.

"That's disgusting. And no, I have better ideas."

"Let's see." Tess sighed. "On what ship do you want to go, to start with?"

"I was thinking of asking Taelia for the favor."

"And now you want to tell another person!?"

"Can you think of something better in such a short time!?"

"Well, no. But it's still risky."

"You're friends with Taelia, you can convince her. And we don't have that much time, this is the most viable quick fix." Anduin grabbed Tess by the shoulders. "Help me with Taelia, please!"

"Why does this have to happen to me...?" Tess muttered. "I'll talk to Taelia, but all of us go! Nobody is escaping!"

"Consider it done."

They had to hurry up a bit as lunchtime was approaching. They headed to the Mariner’s row to find Taelia. Cyrus gave her a ship, a bit larger than a fishing one, that belonged to himfrom his youth for her birthday a few weeks ago. It wasn't a registered ship and it wasn't flashy, it was the perfect ship, they just had to convince Taelia. The place, as usual, was one of the quietest in Boralus. They found Taelia on her ship, painting the railing. She greeted the three of them as soon as she saw them and Tess pulled out a bottle of Aurora Borealis. Taelia dropped everything she was doing and, leaping from the deck, she came over to inspect the bottle, smirking when she saw that it was authentic. Taelia invited them to get on the deck and chat there. As the girls spoke fluently, Anduin took a good look at the ship. It had a fairly wide deck and very well kept sails. A few stairs lead to the helm and there were no cabins, only a small hold under their feet. After a while, Taelia approached Anduin.

"Every time I see you I must assume you ask for a favor." she said without any malice, rather as if it was something funny.

"I don't ask if it's not for a good cause." Anduin defended himself. "In addition, you're helping one of the biggest causes in history, that's very important."

"And what's the cause? Tess is too reserved but too pushy."

"It's because of a confidentiality issue." Tess said. "I don't know what you would think of us if you knew."

"After everything that has happened, the least I'll think is that you're all crazy. You fight against an old god. By the tides! It must be something important!"

"Okay." Anduin said, looking at her seriously. "We need to get Varok Saurfang out of the Stormwind dungeons to help us with N’Zoth." Taelia took ten seconds to process that.

"Have you lost your mind?" she asked puzzled. "Wasn't he a big war prisoner?"

"Yes, but we need him. We have more trust in you than in others to help us with transportation."

"I'll buy you more Aurora Borealis." Tess added.

"I don't know." Taelia hesitated. "It's just a little risky..."

"Please..." Anduin pleaded with the most radiant eyes of hope in the world and made a gesture of supplication with his hands. Taelia couldn't hold his gaze, the young king's expression was too much for her and she covered his eyes with hope with her hands.

"Stop, stop, I help you but if you stop looking at me like that."

"Thank you!" Anduin exclaimed happily.

"When do we leave?"

"At lunchtime."

"Are we going to skip a meal?" Tess asked puzzled. "Worse, do you want to skip a meal?" she added pointing to Anduin.

"Wow, you are taking it seriously..." Dereck commented.

"While we sail towards Stormwind we will eat something fast." Anduin clarified, obviously he wasn't going to skip anything. Taelia sighed.

"Even so, it will take us time to get there, you can take time to eat well."

"Not exactly, I have a wildcard to navigate fast. Leo will accompany us." before Taelia said something, Anduin raised his hands to stop her. "He has accepted all the conditions, he's part of the plan."

"Tess," they both looked at each other. "I want five bottles."

"There will be ten in the end."

Although Taelia didn't seem very convinced with the plan, Anduin was happy that she would help them. It wasn't a kind of favor he could ask anyone and he was quite relieved that a plan of his seemed to be going well. They decided to meet at the second hour of noon because Taelia needed to prepare and Leo had to eat with the other initiates. Anduin and Tess explained to Genn that they wouldn't eat together, as usual, because they organized a 'friends' meal' in a town in Tiragarde. Genn was surprised with the alibi, but warned them not to get into trouble since, the last time there was such a meal, it ended in a fight against some pirates. But Tess convinced him that they would stay away from trouble, which was somewhat ironic from Anduin's point of view. They just had to make time until the indicated time and pray that they really won't get in trouble.

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There were a number of places that didn't change no matter how many catastrophes occurred. Northrend was one of those places along with Pandaria. The balance of the continent was rarely twisted, only an event large enough, such as the crusade to defeat Arthas when he was Lich King, was able to slightly change the frozen continent. Wrathion and Ebyssian spent the whole night flying very fast and reached Northrend when the sun began to rise. From a distance, while watching the sunrise, Northrend looked like the most hostile place in the world. The frozen landscape conveyed the same inhospitable aura as always, it wasn't a place to let down your guard.

Wrathion had many memories of when he lived there, he always considered it to be his most natural habitat. With no laws telling him anything and with the company of countless animals, he could almost say that it was a good time... if it wasn't for the problems he had with N’Zoth.

When dawn gave way to morning, they approached the Icecrown Citadel. They saw that the surroundings were full of reanimated skeletons and other mindless dead. It wasn't a good sign. For some time, the Lich King had been gathering the dead for some reason, each day increasing in number.

Both dragons descended into one of the courtyards of the Icecrown Citadel, where Sindragosa finally perished. They quickly changed to their mortal forms and entered the place. Cold and loneliness flooded everything as Wrathion led, the silence felt claustrophobic and not even seeing dead was disturbing.

"What do we say, exactly?" Ebyssian asked. "Shall we just ask him?"

"No, it's better not to show the cards so fast, he will want to take advantage. Information is power." they both approached the center of the citadel. "We have to get into the transporter of the center and it will take us to the top of the citadel, he is there."

"You seem familiar with the place and with him. Have you been here before?"

"Only once. I had to ask him for a favor long ago."

"What kind of favor do you ask the Lich King?"

"I wanted him to remove the dead that are around the Obsidian Dragonshrine."

Ebyssian frowned at him. He couldn't imagine why Wrathion would want something like that when the said Dragonshrine was completely abandoned. It was a meeting place for the black dragonflight once, but since Deathwing fell, the Dragonshrine was left completely empty. He couldn't help but wonder what interest was there, but preferred not to ask.

Both dragons stepped on the center platform and raised them to the throne. If the citadel was already inhospitable, much more so was the top. Wherever they looked, there was only ice. The ice shelf they were on was quite small, it only had long stairs that led further up, to a huge throne of pure ice where the Lich King was. Although everything was quite dark due to the constant snowstorm, both dragons could see well in the dark. As Wrathion advanced to climb stairs, Ebyssian realized that they were being watched. Many brainless undead were crouched watching their every move. The dragons began to climb the stairs looking at the Lich King 'of fire' trapped in the ice.

"The courtesy of your citadel has decreased, mighty Lich King." Wrathion said in a polite tone when he was halfway there.

"Why would I welcome you?" asked the distant voice from beyond the grave of the Lich King.

"Courtesy, nothing else." both dragons reached the throne.

"Why did you come back? Another favor? Wasn't it all clear the last time we saw each other?"

"That favor, by the way, you didn't grant me. You broke my heart."

"You can't break the heart of someone who was dead inside. Although something has changed, right?"

"I don't think it's relevant to you, and to your relief, I don't want a favor."

"Then you're looking for knowledge. What makes you think I will give it to you?"

"An exchange, I tell you something and you tell me something." there was a small silence.

"Interesting, you must have something big in mind if you offer me something like that, son of Deathwing."

"I assume you accept, I wan-"

"I will ask first." Wrathion frowned, but nodded. "I want to know what has changed."

"Why so much interest in me?"

"The son of the destroyer appeared before me one day, a little dragon that was empty inside, just like me. I thought you had no solution, but I feel you are very alive now, with goals. Of course I'm very curious to know what happened to the Black Prince that made you back to life."

"I no longer respond to that name, and it's not relevant to be the son of a cursed one, stop referring to me like that, please."

"But you are a cursed legacy. And now answer the question or I end our conversation." Wrathion hesitated a few seconds, but decided to respond in a subtle way.

"Let's say I'm with someone who has made me change my mind."

"Has someone brought you back to life?"

"Something like that." the Lich King was silent for a few seconds.

"Don't tell me that... Oh... this I really didn't expect from Deathwing's son. Well, well..."

"Question for question." Wrathion said, trying to change the subject.

"What do you want to ask?"

"I want to know who whispered the name Sylvanas to Vol’jin when he named her Warchief. Was it you or another being? I need to know it." there was no response for at least a minute. Wrathion began to wonder if he was really still there or if something was going to happen.

"Do you know what you're asking? You are talking about very powerful forces."

"Wasn't it you then? Do you know who it was?"

"What happened to Vol'jin is beyond my power, influencing someone who is torn between the gap of the two worlds requires a lot of power and energy, and even better, it can speak to someone like Sylvanas to be its puppet. All this has nothing to do with me."

"Is it the same being then? Who? Who is it?"

"Many things have happened on this side... A certain independent spirit didn’t end up so well, but the traitor is very strong." Wrathion wanted to say something. "I'm not going to tell you who is."

"What? Why?"

"I have no obligation to tell you, information is power, you know that. Also, your question was if it was me or someone else, the answer is that it was someone else." Ebyssian looked around, the dead began to surround them.

"That's not fair, what's the problem? Are you afraid?"

"Don't tempt me. All this destroys the balance and inclines it to the dead, only one benefits from such a thing."

"And you're afraid of such a being, it seems." Wrathion sighed. "Do you even remember your real name?"

"Get out of here, and never come back. Go now... or be part of my army."

Ebyssian touched his shoulder to get his attention, Wrathion finally turned around. He saw all the corpses of different shapes and sizes climbing the stairs and up the walls. The lich king was literally throwing The scourge on them. Wrathion unsheathed his weapon and Ebyssian drew his ax. Both ran down the stairs, removing from the middle any corpse that dared to approach. There was no time to take the safe path, it was best that they jump off the platform and avoid being chased. As soon as they removed an undead from the middle, they jumped. They transformed back into dragons in midair, the strong blizzard of the place destabilized them a bit, but managed to keep their balance until they moved away from the Icecrown Citadel. They flew to the mountains that separated the Dragonblight and the Crystalsong Forest to rest for a few moments. They had to stop to process that they had just run away from The scourge and think about what they heard.

"He knows, he knows who was, why did he refuse to say who was it?" Ebyssian asked. "He himself has said that the being who is doing all this is a traitor, why defend it?"

"He's afraid. Whoever it is, is someone much more powerful than the Lich King, and if he tells us who is, he would probably get into trouble. I think all beings connected to death know what has happened, it means that Bwonsamdi and Eyir probably lied."

"But we still don't know the truth, this trip has been of no use. We don't have any interesting information or a clue."

"Actually we did get something out." Ebyssian cocked his head a little. "He said something, I don't know if on purpose, that until now I haven't realized what he was referring to."

"What is it about?" Wrathion took flight.

"I'll tell you on the way, we must go back. We have a very useful clue."

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They saw Stormwind after two hours. Leo used the trip as a big practice to control the tides and winds in favor, but he had to take a few breaths. Anduin explained to the little boy why he shouldn't tell anyone about this and that it would be a big secret between them. But the magic words were 'It's very important to Wrathion, he would be disappointed if you tell someone about this' and the truth is that he didn't have to say anything else, Leo didn't want his hero to be angry with him. Although Anduin wasn't proud of using that type of emotional blackmail, he had no better idea to convince him in such a short time.

As they approached the Stormwind lighthouse, Anduin asked Leo to make the mist. He gave him free rein to use all the uncontrolled power, the more mist the better. Feeling unrestrained made the little boy happy and, in a few minutes, covered the entire city in dense mist. Taelia left them in the area where ships were built because Anduin knew that they weren't using it right now, it was the ideal place.

Taelia would stay to protect Leo as he continued to channel the mist and wished them luck.

Anduin, Tess and Dereck began to walk through the harbor. As they could hardly see each other, they ran holding hands on a chain so they didn't get lost while dodging all kinds of people. The good thing is that they knew the city very well and knew where they were walking perfectly. After a while following the Canals, they reached the building where the dungeons were. The doors, as usual, were being guarded by two guards. Anduin, Tess, and Dereck stopped before approaching upon hearing their voices.

"What do we do with them?" Dereck asked quietly.

"What if one confuses them and the others get inside?" Anduin suggested.

"And who will do it?" Tess asked. Anduin looked at her.

"You know how to do it very well, pretending to be disoriented."

"I'm not going to do that, it's ridiculous."

"Do it for me, please."

Tess sighed exhausted, she didn't want to do that, but she had no better idea. Before starting, she told them that if they wanted to get out, they had to go downstairs when they got Varok out. Tess put on her hood and addressed the two guards, pretending to be quite disoriented by the mist.

"Excuse me? Guards?" Tess asked innocently.

"Yes, we are here." replied one. "On your left."

"Oops." Tess turned. "What a crazy mist, right? I'm lost, where am I?"

"You are in the dungeons, miss. Can I help you?" it was obvious that they didn't know who they were talking to.

"Yes, please, I'm trying to go to the Trade District."

"I think it's over there." the guard pointed to the front.

"No, I come from there." Tess countered.

"I think it was the other way." said the other guard. "If you follow the Canals you should arrive."

"Could you tell me where the Canals are? I don't see anything in this mist."

"Yes, of course." the guard moved from his position to indicate her well, but the other guard caught up with them.

"They aren’t there! The Canals are here!"

"What are you talking about?" the other replied indignantly. "They’re here."

"Can you take me where you think it is and see who is right?" Tess insisted.

Both guards guided Tess to locate the Canals and help her to get to the Trade District, it was the negligence that allowed Dereck and Anduin to sneak into the dungeons. Dereck, using all his knowledge on infiltration, stealthily knocked out guard at the entrance, though he appeared to be resting. There was no one as they entered, but as soon as they started moving inside, they saw the jailers. Dereck was the one who knew about stealth, so he was able to hide well with Anduin by dodging, or knocking out, all the staff until they reached Varok Saurfang's cell. The orc was sitting there on the ground and frowned in confusion when he saw them. He got up to approach the bars.

"You know how to open these cells, right?" Anduin asked.

"No lock can resist me, just give me a few seconds." Dereck answered determinedly when he took out some picks and worked on the lock.

"What are you doing?" Varok asked.

"You have to come with us." Anduin replied.

"Why?"

"Either you come with me or you will spend your whole life locked up here."

"It doesn't bother me."

"But it's not about that, we need you for a favor."

"I'm not going to leave the cell."

"Baine needs you." Varok opened his eyes surprised. "The Horde is in danger, he asked us to take you out so that you could solve it, it's the favor he asked me."

"But... That would be treason, he is putting his people in danger."

"Well, imagine what's the situation if he asked us for this. The world has changed." Varok said nothing and Dereck managed to open the door. "Come with us, please." the orc hesitated.

"How do I know it's not a trap?"

"And why would I do something like that?" Anduin asked in the most genuine possible way, so much so that Varok believed him. The orc took a dubious step out of the cell.

"I will have no qualms about killing you both if it's a trap."

"There will be no need, come on, they're waiting for us."

Varok took a brown cape before going out to hide his face. Dereck guided them back down to the ground floor with the utmost caution. There were no problems or encounters with anyone, everyone was probably out watching the sudden mist. Perhaps after this Anduin should reprimand everyone for the negligence. The young king didn't understand why Tess asked them to go there until he could see a sewer grate in the lower part of the wall, Tess was on the other side. That grate, little larger than a drain, was used to prevent flooding in the dungeons. Dereck walked over to the grate and helped Tess open it.

"I hope you don't make me do something so embarrassing again." Tess said.

"Shall we jump into the water?" Anduin asked.

"That or you stay there." Tess answered when opening the grate. "Jump."

Dereck was the first to jump into the canal. It wasn't very deep and could touch the ground on tiptoe. Varok was the second to jump followed by Anduin. Tess finished closing the grate and jumped into the water. They quickly swam to the west of the Cathedral Square. The water was cold and the mist didn't help warm. The three humans were shivering a little, but they had to get going and return to the harbor. Furthermore, they realized that the mist was dissipating. With all the time they had been there, Leo would already be tired of using his magic. They started running without exposing themselves too much through the harbor, passing between boxes. The mist gave them enough camouflage so that no one noticed anything. They only had to pass the place where the ships were built and they would return to Boralus without any problem.

"Do you think Wrathion is back?" Anduin asked.

"Maybe? A little soon." Tess replied.

"But dragons fly very fast."

"Your Majesty?" they all stopped abruptly. They were almost leaving the harbor behind when someone spotted them.

"Hello?" Anduin replied. It was an ordinary worker with a confused expression.

"But what…?" he soon realized that Tess and Dereck were with him, but his gaze became more confused when he looked at Varok. "Is that... an orc?"

"Yes, well... we... we were just..." Anduin didn't know how to continue. There was only one thing he could do. He sighed and raised his hands. "Hey, you don't know how sorry I am for this."

Anduin used mind control, after so long, with the worker. It was quite natural for him to do so, he took control of the poor man's mind easily. The man's eyes turned violet for a few seconds, making him understand that he would do what Anduin said.

"Go home." Anduin said. "Pretend this has never happened. You haven't seen me, nor any of us. You never saw us. Go away." the worker obeyed and started to walk away. With the practice he had acquired with the Void, he could order these kinds of things with no problem.

"Sometimes you're scary, Anduin." said Tess.

Anduin just shrugged, it didn't seem too scary. Once they were safe, they got to the ship and began to move away from Stormwind at once. Leo kept the mist until they were far enough away. As soon as he stopped, he fell to his knees on deck. He was tired and couldn't make the trip shorter, but they didn't blame him. Tess and Dereck rummaged in the backpack they brought in and took out dry clothes. It was common in SI:7 to wear spare clothes. Anduin unfortunately remained shivering for a long time with a towel covering him.

"You did very well, Leo." Anduin praised. "You have helped us a lot, I'm sure that Wrathion will be very happy too."

"Thank you!" said quite happily. Then he looked at Varok. "Is he a real orc? I haven't seen any before." Anduin addressed Varok.

"Thanks for coming with us. Baine was very insistent that he had to talk to you."

"I believe it comes from Baine." Varok admitted. "I believe he asked you for help. How did it happen?"

"On a rescue. The Horde made a blockade in the Azuremyst Isle and we took off all the civilians who were still alive. It was then when we met and I invited him to speak about what was happening in the world... And here we are now."

"Sylvanas has blocked the draenei home?"

"Yes, we were late for some civilians, but we saved the remaining people."

"Genocide disguised in 'action of war', sounds like Sylvanas."

"Hey, Anduin." Tess called clearly concerned.

"What's wrong with your face?"

"What are we supposed to do when we get to Kul Tiras?" Anduin was silent. The truth is, he didn't think about it for a second.

"Will you hit me if I tell you I haven't thought about it?

"I'm going to kill you!" she said angrily. "I knew there were holes in the plan!"

"Well, well, I can think of something, there is still a way to go."

"You can start now!"

"If you calm down," said Taelia. "I have an idea." everyone looked at her. "I hope you like the little hold."

At first, it wasn't a bad plan, and Anduin thought he would feel claustrophobic there. From what Taelia said, they would enter Boralus through the big gate and follow the water canal to a point near Hatherford, then they would continue on foot. Varok, Anduin and Dereck would have to hide in the hold to wait as soon as they reached Kul Tiras. If anyone asked Taelia, she would say that she was hanging out with her friend Tess and helping Leo with some practice.

It took more than three hours to reach Boralus, they only had one hour of sun before night fell. Before approaching the door, Tess forced them to hide. The hold was much smaller than imagined. With Varok's size, they almost run out of air. They waited several claustrophobic minutes with little air coming in until Tess opened again.

Dereck was nearly dizzy and Anduin took in as much clean air as he could. Varok seemed calm enough, probably used to it from the whole time he was in a cell. Taelia left them close to Hatherford, in a small beach full of crabs. Taelia said goodbye to them temporarily saying that one day they should return the favor. She took Leo back to the Stormsong Monastery to cover her alibi. Now they just had to make the long trip around Hatherford in the north and try not to be seen.

There wasn't much problem at first, they followed the Blushwater Brook and went up the river, past the Algerson Lumber Yard, until they reached the Evergreen Grove. They were tired of walking, besides, Anduin could still feel the cold water from the canal, he sneezed when remembering the cold when he came out of the water.

"Hey Anduin." Dereck called out. "Did Wrathion reactivate the protection spell before he left?"

"The barrier is always there." Anduin replied.

"I meant the other one." the young king stopped, now that he thought about it...

"True, Varok can't get close to the house if he doesn't want to deal with Wrathion's spells." Tess said.

"Ahhh!" shouted Anduin, raising his hands to his head. "Why is it so difficult to bring someone home!?"

"So, what can we do now?" Dereck asked, Anduin meditated crossing his arms.

"Maybe Wrathion is in Boralus." Tess said.

"But we have to hide Varok." Anduin said after a sigh. "He can't be exposed here. We will take him to that nearby cave, in the Fernwood ridge."

Anduin just hoped he would stop improvising after that, not because he didn't like it, rather because he was getting desperate thinking he was doing it wrong, it wasn't his thing after all.

But to his surprise, Varok took it quite well to hide in a small cave. After taking another big turn, the orc simply followed. He seemed very tired and, if he had a plan to run away, he didn't seem to be in the mood to carry it out. He sat in the cave once they arrived with Dereck guarding him in case something happened. Meanwhile, Anduin and Tess would return to Boralus to see if Wrathion returned.

Anduin and Tess, quite tired, walked through Boralus without finding the dragon. That wasn't a good sign, Baine and Mayla will return soon and they needed the new information from Wrathion and Ebyssian to be able to advance. What Varok and Baine were going to talk about was the Horde, it had nothing to do with their mission. The only positive thing in Boralus is that no one looked at them, no one noticed their absence, and no one asked them anything. That was reaffirmed when they crossed paths with Jaina and they just greeted each other.

"What if something happened to them?" asked Anduin worried after a while.

"Two black dragons in trouble? I don't think so. Unless N’Zoth himself has stood in their way, I don't think anything has happened to them."

"But they aren't totally invulnerable, maybe some dead beings didn't like them snooping."

"Weren't you the optimist?"

"I only contemplate the possibility that something may have happened, I have already said, they aren't invincible."

"That's what you think of me?" Wrathion said suddenly hanging upside down on a wooden plank. Anduin got so scared that he backed away after screaming slightly and Tess laughed.

"Can you stop doing these things!?" Anduin said somewhat angrily.

"And take away from me the pleasure of seeing your reactions? I think I pass." Wrathion dropped to the ground. "I was looking for you and I detected your smell nearby, how has your plan gone?"

"All very improvised, but we have Varok hidden in a cave because of your protection spells."

"Seriously?" Anduin didn't know what mental image Wrathion had, but from the way he started to laugh he assumed it was something out of place.

"And you? Have you had any luck?"

"Yes and no. Now I will explain everything when we meet. Ebyssian has gone to look for his own so we better go now, they will arrive in no time."

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Once again, the situation was curious for Anduin. If sitting at a table with everyone yesterday was weird, now being in the same house waiting for Horde members because they rescued Varok was just as weird.

"Are you the leader of the black dragonflight now?" Varok asked Wrathion, the dragon frowned.

"Dragonflights no longer exist, everyone is on their own now. Just like the aspects no longer have such power."

"Pity."

"Not really, it was very problematic and limited too much. That's only part of the past now and should always be so."

"By the way, Wrathion." Anduin said. "I had to get Leo into this. I told him it was your plan and that you would be disappointed if he says something, so get in that role when you see him, please."

"Lying to an eight year old boy? How vulgar!" Wrathion exclaimed jokingly. Anduin hit him on the arm.

"You don't look like one of those who use tricks like that." Varok said. "From the outside you look more…" he didn't know how to continue.

"Of those who would never hurt a fly?" Wrathion finished for him. "A goody two-shoes? Well, deep down he's still like that." Wrathion smiled at the young king and he struck again friendly.

Anduin was surprised at how calm Varok was. He didn't seem concerned about being surrounded by supposed enemies and was surprised that he didn't make an escape attempt when they left him in the cave. Maybe he was very expectant or really trusted them.

As Wrathion said, the tauren appeared after a few minutes, it seemed that they came running. Baine's eyes widened when he saw the orc and then looked gratefully at Anduin. Baine approached Varok to shake his hand immediately.

"Saurfang," he said happily, "I'm so glad to see you."

"You look exhausted." replied the orc.

"Well, you know, the situation got worse."

"Has the Banshee Queen threatened you?"

"What do you think?"

Varok sighed and closed his eyes. Anduin then invited everyone inside the house to speak quietly.

Baine was the one who gave him the quickest summary about N’Zoth and what was happening with Sylvanas. Varok seemed quite surprised at first at all the news, but then he ended up saying it was logical and he regretted not realizing it before. He was the one who got a closer look to Sylvanas’ changes apart from Nathanos, and now that he knew of an unknown force influencing Sylvanas, he left the face of indifference he had to give way to concern.

"I remember the small meeting when she changed the attack from Stormwind to Teldrassil." Varok said. "I remember when she said that everything was part of a bigger plan, an 'ineffable' plan, it's the word she used... At that time I began to suspect that she was delusional but... When I saw the tree burn I... I must have imagined that it wasn't really she who made the decisions, there was something wrong."

"Baine said that maybe you saw someone talk to Sylvanas to burn Teldrassil." Anduin pointed out immediately. "Do you know who it was? Did you see something?"

"I did see someone talking to her, a stranger. But it was a private meeting, I didn't participate."

"Can't you tell us anything at all?"

"I only know that it must be human and a slim one. I saw their back for a few moments and was a fairly tall slim figure, but nothing more. They were dressed in a black tunic, or a very dark blue, and hooded.

"N’Zoth isn't an idiot." Wrathion said. "It's clear that he won't expose a controlled one of that caliber. Sylvanas, even if she wasn't stupid, probably don't know who is it even if we asked her. But at least we know that is a human."

"That's not much..." said Tess.

"We can dismiss out the other races, which is quite a lot, at least for me."

"What else did Sylvanas do after Lordaeron?" Varok asked Baine.

"Aside from threatening anyone who might turn against her? Little more, she didn't usually make many public appearances unless it was necessary, she isolated herself."

"She took part in the battle of the Stormsong Valley and welcomed the Zandalaris in Zuldazar." Mayla added. "Beyond that she barely shows herself."

"Why did she want to attack an area of Kul Tiras?" asked the orc curiously.

"She said that Kul Tiras joined the Alliance and we had to attack before it was too late." Mayla explained. "One day she told us that she made contact with someone from the area who gave her a free way to attack the main town and make a base there."

"Leo when he was under control..." Anduin muttered.

"We were ordered to attack several villages before, they were simple villagers that the only thing similar to a weapon they wielded was a sickle to mow the field. The town that was used as base was... I think it was called Brennadam. Then Sylvanas said that the Alliance would try to help the locals, so the plan was to take the artillery to show that we were going with everything and attract the Alliance, so that you would take your best men and artillery to 'stop us' and we would be able to destroy you."

"Since we had Ebonhorn on our side," said Baine. "it was thought that there would be no problem, that he was our strongest weapon. This plan was used by Garrosh in his day at... Theramore."

"But of course, no one imagined that Wrathion would be there and destroyed us," Mayla pointed at the dragon. "so we ended up losing. Then Zul's betrayal happened and well, you know the rest."

"Well," Dereck said. "there are the looting groups."

"That's a cadet thing, we only point to a place from time to time."

"I'm very tired of all this." Varok said quietly. "And I thought we wouldn't fall any lower after Garrosh, but I see I was wrong."

"That's why I asked Anduin to bring you." Baine said. "I need your help, I also can't stand to see the Horde declining again."

"What happened to the rider and the wolf? When was the last time we fought with honor and respect? Since Vol’jin died, respect within the Horde has died with him."

"We need everything to go back to the way it was before, we have to stop Sylvanas, someone has to lead."

"I'm not that person, Baine. I'm not better, my hands are stained with blood as much as hers. Even though I knew what Sylvanas was doing was wrong, I said nothing and proceeded to do the things she told me to do until Lordaeron. I'm as guilty as she is. I can't go back, I'm ashamed of myself."

"But we couldn't disobey our Warchief."

"Warchief?" Wrathion said wryly. "More like Warbitch at this point. She treats you like slaves, she makes you live in a dictatorship and she practically forces you to do things that you don't want. It seems normal to me that he doesn't want to return."

"It happened with Garrosh," Baine countered with a frown. "we can stop it again."

"And with all the manipulations nowadays, do you think it will turn out well? Because Garrosh did those things without an old god controlling everything and a voice saying things to him." Baine said nothing. "Let's accept it, it's not the same situation, not even remotely."

"And then what do we do with this whole situation?" Anduin asked. "Do we wait for things to change in the Horde?"

"As long as there is nothing else, this is what we have to live. And I'm sorry if this sounds cruel, but no one will come to save our asses from this, our parents won't come to save us or old warriors bathed in glory. No offense." he added looking at Varok. "This will depend solely on us, it's us who have to fight, we will untangle this." there was a small silence, one of acceptance.

"So what do we do now?" Anduin asked, looking at Wrathion. "I'm a little lost."

"We have a clue," Ebyssian chimed in. "about the voice whispering to Sylvanas." everyone paid attention. "In Northrend, we couldn't figure out who talks to her, however, we have heard several stories. Everything that happens on the other side is known to everyone, so Bwonsamdi and Eyir may have lied to us. But there's someone else besides those two who can tell us what happened."

"With a big inconvenience..." Wrathion said.

"Which? Who?" asked curious Anduin. Wrathion looked seriously at the young king.

"Gorak Tul." after hearing that, Anduin's face changed to surprise.

"That one?" Tess said. "Is he connected with death?"

"Yes, it's true." Anduin said. "I hadn't realized it. The Drust are spirits, they don't belong on this side, they're dead. But…"

"The problem is that he's hostile. It's not like we can find him and ask." said Wrathion.

"If the other two lied, who says Gorak Tul won't?" Dereck asked.

"From what we have heard, I think Gorak Tul took a big blow in this." Wrathion clarified. "He already is independent so I don't think he has any kind of loyalty. He could be an option. We can trick him into telling us something if the being who manipulates Sylvanas is a traitor and made things worse for him."

"I think he will try to kill us." Tess said.

"Of course, but if we submit him, let me interrogate him and we will know. Leave it to me."

"Well," said Anduin thoughtfully. "it's an idea, since Azshara isn't someone reachable now. We could try to untangle this matter while searching for Azshara."

"I would really appreciate it." Baine said.

"And I have the perfect excuse." Anduin cleared his throat. "In Drustvar people are mysteriously disappearing and it’s said that Gorak Tul is the one behind it. I’ll tell Jaina we’re going so nobody suspects anything weird. Still, she's been asking for help for a while."

"Decided then, time to hunt ghosts." Dereck said, hitting the table.

"What will you do, Saurfang?" Baine asked him. Varok sighed.

"I have nowhere to go. The Alliance will be looking for me, the Horde will look for me too as soon as they find out. I'm tired of all this, I don't feel like doing much."

"Hey," Anduin intervened. "If you want, you can stay here. We only use this house sometimes, we have nothing here. If you want to stay until things calm down, no problem."

Varok had to think about it while everyone got up to leave. In the end, he preferred to stay there and wait for everything to calm down or simply be presumed dead. Anduin noticed that the orc seemed very discouraged and lacking any motivation, as if he had already given up with the world. Once, he was a notorious warrior, his father said it many times, but now it seemed that he lost the biggest battle of his life and he had nothing left. He supposed it was normal, after all the clashes with Sylvanas and the revelation that an old god and another being were behind, maybe he thought there was no solution and accepted that the Horde was lost.

Either that, or maybe he felt guilty for what he did and thought he didn't deserve a second chance, just waiting for the moment to die. Anduin took the pessimistic thought out of his mind, tried to think that he was only doing it because he was tired and needed time for reflection.

Before each of them went their own way, Baine said that they would help them in Drustvar. Although they knew nothing of Gorak Tul, the very idea that they might know who manipulates Sylvanas attracted them. It may have been personal, but Anduin accepted the help. The only difference was that, while he would only have to exchange a few words tomorrow with Jaina and the same day he would already be in the area, Baine and the others have to wait a few days for not raising suspicions. That would mean they'd have to make a thorough investigation so they could have a plan of action when the others came. With all that, they said goodbye temporarily.

The tauren crossed the Evergreen Grove to reach one of their temporary Horde camps and return to Zuldazar. Ebyssian told them that he could agree with Wrathion to send each other written notes in Draconic, so no one could read them, and they could receive information about their progress in Drustvar.

"Did you like your, how can I call him, brother?" Mayla asked.

"Too soon to call him brother." the dragon replied. "I can't call him that when we barely know each other. But with this trip, as I told you before, he seems very calm. Although nothing takes away the fact that he did what he did with those people."

"Anduin trusts him," said Baine. "and I already told you that Anduin has an innate gift to judge people. And this whole issue with N’Zoth… it's crazy, we need all the help we can and that dragon is the only one that has been fighting for the longest time."

"For now I will leave justice for another occasion, and if it turns out that he lied about the reasons why he killed those poor people, he will pay." Ebyssian clarified. "But if the fault is from a third party, I relax with him for now. But of course, he is still someone very strange."

"Why?"

"You can't notice it because you don't have such magical ability but... he is very strange."

"In the Bloodmyst Isle you said he wasn't a dragon." Baine pointed out.

"Yes and no, on one hand he is a dragon, that is obvious. But there is a part of him that is completely unknown to me... very unnatural and powerful. It is like... there was someone in him. I don't know how to explain it…"

"Another person?"

"I don't think it's a person... But he says that is how he was born, so..."

"Well," Mayla put her hand on Ebyssian. "at least we can say that you have found something similar to a relative, and you thought you were unique."

"My family and my duty is with the Highmountain Tauren. But yes, he is someone like a lost relative."

"Let's hope Sylvanas doesn't suspect anything." Baine said. "About the looting point that we must communicate, we can point somewhere that is protected so there won't be many casualties. After a few days we will say that we want to investigate Drustvar for another looting, understand?"

Mayla and Ebyssian nodded. There was only one looting on Drustvar in all this time and it didn't go well, it might be a good idea to suggest the place again if it was they who verified the place. Also, they never stepped on the place before, they wanted to see those beings called Drust and their leader, Gorak Tul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gorak Tul and the Drust... Do you know what Blizzard said about them? That they were vrykuls and that the Blighted Lands are an emerald dream annex. That's it, there are no more, they say they will appear in Shadowlands but idk. I had to write knowing only that a few months ago and it was complicated, I had to made up quite a few things along the way, I hope it doesn't look bad. And yes, the first adventure is the guardians against the Drust, we will see how it goes :P  
Lol, I drew (paint lul) Wrathion from this fic, it's in my twitter if you want to check.  
Thanks for reading, see you next time!


	32. Screams in the Crimson Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. How are you? Me not very well, so I hope at least you are the one who is okay. I have little to say, I hope you like the little adventure that begins in this chapter in Drustvar. Sorry for grammar mistakes anyway.  
Enjoy.

The nightmares weren't stopping. Anduin woke up several times during the night feeling a very cold sweat and coughing. The voice of the Void may not have spoken to him as much as before, but what it did with his dreams was very annoying. This morning he showed a very tired face when he met the others for breakfast. Genn was a bit concerned about his condition, but as always, Anduin convinced him that he was fine.

It was then when he received a letter that he had been waiting for since yesterday, one from Stormwind communicating that Varok had escaped. Anduin had to make a big effort to look quite surprised in front of Genn and immediately ordered for his search to begin. He knew they wouldn't find him anyway, but the young king had to keep up appearances.

With all the talk yesterday, the young king tried to speak to Jaina at once, but the mage was quite busy all morning and hardly had a chance. Anduin's impatience increased, he liked to be on the move and wanted to start this investigation as soon as possible. In order to make some time until Jaina could attend him, he decided to send a letter to a contact who would be very helpful: Calia Menethil. Anduin knew she was still in Drustvar, helped with the small dock in the area that was assaulted by the Horde, and stayed because of the whole issue with the kidnappings. She was a good friend of Lucille Waycrest, so if he sent her a letter, perhaps she could facilitate a meeting between them to exchange information.

Once he wrote that request, he sent it with a Drustvar hawk, which were said to be the fastest ones sending messages all over Kul Tiras. Shortly after that, it was when Jaina was able to talk for a moment between meetings. Apparently lately there have been many naval attacks by the Horde and Jaina was somewhat overwhelmed by it. When Anduin told her that he would personally investigate the problems at Drustvar, Jaina's face changed dramatically. She showed a joy that Anduin didn't see for a long time, she seemed delighted that he dealt with that matter. Jaina said there was no problem or restraints and thanked him for the help.  
Anduin quickly communicated it to the others, they just had to wait for Calia to reply soon. The wait, unfortunately, was too long. Anduin had to spend time with Genn reading letters from Stormwind communicating that the draenei integration was going well for now and trying to come up with ideas to improve it.

It was at noon, while they were eating, when Anduin received a response from Calia. He was focused on a Legiuns' game against Wrathion while eating when he read it, Wrathion took advantage of the fact that he was distracted by receiving the letter and made a move that Anduin was unable to counter. The content of the letter was brief, but it seemed that Calia was quite glad to receive help and that they should take it for granted that she would provide anything. Lucille would receive them at the Arom’s Stand, the only town in the mountains, and they could go whenever they wanted. After eating, they prepared to leave for Drustvar. First he clarified with Genn that they would be away for a few days for the investigation and the old wolf, with concern, wished them luck. They gathered their equipment and decided to find a ship that would bring them to Drustvar. Since they wanted to go immediately, Anduin had no better idea than asking Taelia again to approach them with her ship. He didn't think she would object since it would only take thirty minutes.

The sky was quite gray as they walked and it seemed like it was getting late. They weren't looking forward to going to Drustvar, a place with a reputation for being creepy, if it looked like it was going to rain. They saw Taelia in the same place as yesterday taking care of her ship. However, when she saw them all, she wanted to run away to hide. Anduin tried to stop her.

"Not again!" Taelia said, running away.

"Wait!" exclaimed the young king. "I still haven't told you anything!"

Tess stopped Taelia as she approached her showing a small box full of bottles. It was alcohol of all kinds and Taelia thought about it.

"Incredible that the bribe is with drinks, I should demand gold with the favors you ask me." Taelia said inspecting a bottle.

"We aren't going to ask you to help us transport a prisoner of war." Wrathion said.

"Ah, no? What is it this time?"

"Can you take us to Drustvar?" Taelia frowned.

"Why?"

"The kidnappings, we'll go to solve it."

"Oh... well, how confident." Wrathion smiled wryly.

"Do you think we can't?" Taelia shook her arms.

"No, no, no... it's just that I've heard what's going on out there and... it looks dangerous."

"We'll be fine. So, will you take us there?"

"Well, if it's only that, I have no problem. It's just a ride."

"Thanks, freckles." Taelia frowned at her new nickname.

Once it was decided, Taelia invited them to board and started the little trip. The water inside Kul Tiras was much calmer than the ocean and it was quite a pleasant ride. As they approached Drustvar, the sky became much darker. Anduin hoped that it wouldn't rain, forcing them to withdraw temporarily. Taelia left them as close as the waters allowed to the Fallhaven, one of the most famous towns, by docking at Carver's harbor.

Once they said goodbye to Taelia and wished each other luck, they followed the beach until they reached a slope that led them directly to the town. The forest, as Anduin had read in old reports, was as gloomy as he imagined. Trees and brush were abundant, the leaves were rather withered, and not a bird could be heard singing.

Fallhaven was a small and very quiet town. All houses could be counted with two hands and had only two large buildings, one was an inn and the other looked like a town hall. Dereck had the idea that maybe if they paid someone, they could take them to the Arom's Stand by carriage and not go all the way up the mountain on foot. Anduin walked with Tess into the building that looked like a town hall to ask. The interior was pretty neat and light, not much different than the insides of taverns and inns. There was a middle aged man sitting behind a counter writing in a book. Both came to ask him.

"Excuse me," Anduin started. The man looked up. "I would like to know if there is anytransportation to get to the Arom's Stand." the man frowned slightly.

"There is a family in town that has a business with carriages, if that is okay to you."

"Is perfect, can you tell me where they are?"

"Yes. When you get out of the building, turn left and continue until you reach the end of the town. You will find several carriages and horses, the head of the family has to be there."

"Thank you very much for the help." Anduin was about to go.

"Hey..." Anduin looked at him. "You are not from around here, are you?"

"Correct."

"I should warn you to be very careful, there are kidnappings through the woods and we never found them. I thought I should say it."

"Thanks, don't worry, we will be fine."

Anduin and Tess went outside to meet Dereck and Wrathion. As they were told, they went straight to the end of the town. Anduin hadn't realized until now that everyone in town seemed concerned. Silence and scared looks were everywhere.

"There's more joy in a funeral, really." Wrathion commented, earning a soft poke on his arm from Anduin.

As soon as they saw the horses and carriages, they knew they were in the right place. Tess spoke to a strong Kultiran and another who looked to be his son for a few seconds. Considering what was happening in the area, they asked for a large amount of gold for transportation. Fortunately, gold wasn't something that worried them and they had no qualms about paying what was asked. The carriage wasn't covered and was pulled by two horses, the eldest son of the Kultiran would take them quickly to the Arom's Stand.

During the journey through the forest, the horses were running fast. It was known that all the kidnappings were in the woods, so it was better to pass that part vigorously spurring the horses. It was then when everything darkened much more. The trees stopped any light that could escape the clouds and made the forest look gloomy with an aura that said 'get out of here'. The undergrowth and brambles had many cobwebs attached and created even darker shadows that seemed to move all the time. Anduin, Tess and Dereck felt quite uncomfortable and didn't say a word as they looked alarmed around waiting for something to appear. Wrathion was quite calm, if something related to the Drust appeared, he would notice the power.

Once they left the forest behind and approached the snow, at the highroad pass of the mountain, everyone stopped being tense. The problem was that the temperature dropped quite a bit. Wrathion was unaffected, Tess and Dereck wore appropriate clothing, but Anduin, despite wearing a jacket, was a little more uncovered. It didn't take long for him to feel the cold from the heights and he began to rub his arms lightly. They saw Arom's Stand as soon as they approached a frozen lake. Anduin looked curious as he coughed slightly, it looked like a much quieter town but there was more movement than in Fallhaven. Perhaps the civilians felt safer on the mountain rather than the forest. The carriage left them after reaching the other end of the lake, just as the town began. Locals eyed the newcomers curiously and made whispering comments among themselves. After paying the carrier, they approached the center of the town trying to locate until Anduin saw Calia approaching. She smiled at them and shook Anduin's hand.

"Nice to see you again, King Anduin!" she said cheerfully.

"I see you very well, Calia, and only Anduin please." the young king replied with a smile.

"Okay, how was the little trip? Has it been very difficult to get here?"

"No, not at all, we paid someone to bring us here. People seem a little scared, I have to add."

"Yes, you know, fear, mistrust and paranoia is the order of the day."

"I see... Oh." Anduin pointed to the others. "They come with me to help, my friends. This is Tess Greymane, this is Dereck Hopson and I think you saw Wrathion in Stormwind."

"Yes, I remember." Calia smiled. "Any help is welcome, so, welcome to the Arom's Stand."

Calia shook hands with everyone and invited them to enter the town hall to meet Lucille. It was a building even bigger than the one at Fallhaven and had two floors, and the fireplace was on somewhere so Anduin stopped feeling cold. Calia led them to the meeting room after passing through the lobby and a hallway, Lucille was waiting for them while she was leaving some snacks on the table. Lucille received them kindly as she shook hands.

"Welcome to Drustvar." Lucille said. "I wanted to thank you in advance, it is an honor to have you all here."

"You don’t need to thank us, you're part of the Alliance after all." Anduin replied. "Helping each other is vital. And you don't have to be formal with us... better as if we were long time friends."

"Okay, thanks." Lucille smiled. "We last saw each other when Kul Tiras joined the Alliance, I'm sorry that I was somewhat absent since then, it has been a long time and I'm a little embarrassed."

"Nothing to regret, we have all been very busy. I understand that although the coven fell, it was necessary to resume the usual routine and that takes time, especially after something like that."

"Thanks for understanding. Please, sit down, eat if you want."

They all sat on the sofas except Wrathion, he preferred to remain standing. Anduin wasted no time in attacking the food and eating everything he could as they made a few introductions before speaking seriously. The wind hit the window violently when Lucille showed them a map of Drustvar.

"To put you in this situation," Lucille began. "at first a few kidnappings happened in the Crimson Forest," she pointed to the big forest to the southwest. "it was a week after the fall of the coven. We thought they were isolated cases and I'm ashamed to admit that we didn't take it very seriously..."

"Is there any reason you didn't?" Anduin asked.

"Because of the recovery. Corlain is the main and largest town in Drustvar," pointed out the town that was located between the Arom's Stand and the Waycrest manor. "it was overrun by the coven, so it took a lot of work to rebuild, reform and get the refugees back. Obviously we also had to help other towns, so we didn't pay much attention to the kidnappings at first."

"At what point did you pay attention to it?" Lucille lowered her head slightly.

"It was shortly after that assault by the Kul Tiras fleet on Dazar’alor. One day, suddenly, about twenty people disappeared altogether." everyone choked on food or drink.

"How is that possible?" Tess asked.

"I don't know." Lucille replied dejectedly.

"Did they all disappear in the Crimson Forest?" Dereck asked.

"No. Most kidnappings were there, but also near Fletcher’s hollow, the town in the southeast, some in Fallhaven and finally north of Corlain, and in the north there is no forest."

"Have you noticed if there is any kind of pattern?" Anduin asked.

"There is none," Calia replied. "I have studied it, but there is nothing. It just happens one day randomly."

"How strange... And the coven? Are you sure it's removed? Can you give me a little context on that?"

"As far as the witches' coven is concerned, it's one hundred percent eliminated." Lucille replied. "I saw the matriarch fall myself... she was my mother."

"It was truly your mother?" Tess asked. "How could she be?"

"My mother always had some... evil tendencies, even before being a matriarch. Without going any further, I was going to marry a wonderful man, a merchant, and my mother didn't like him because he was a nameless man. So on our wedding day, she hired an assassin to kill him." they all choked again on what they were eating or drinking.

"That's horrible!" Tess exclaimed.

"Barbaric..." Dereck said.

"It seems like she was already a witch before being officially one." Wrathion pointed out.

"Wrathion!" Anduin called him out, thinking it was a somewhat out of place comment.

"No, no, he’s right." Lucille defended. "The truth is that deep down I wasn't surprised that she was the matriarch of the coven. Anyway, it's an old story now. We also saw Gorak Tul that day and he escaped."

"Gorak Tul..." Wrathion murmured. "How was he like?

"Well, he's very tall, twice a human or so. His skin was dark gray and the leather clothing he was wearing was to cover his hip and shoulders. He had wooden branches for armor and a helmet. His face radiated Drust magic and he has a long white beard."

"The magic they use, how would you describe it?"

"Well... Visually it’s bright blue, with it they usually create haunted servitors with a human or beast form, they could also have the forest animals under control with an enchantment. And they can make stone constructs."

"Their magic is very similar to the Emerald Dream and Nightmare." Calia added. "It is as if they had based their magic in those places, also, their realm has its roots there."

"Were they here before the first humans reached Kul Tiras?" Wrathion asked, pacing back and forth thoughtfully.

"According to the books, yes. It was a tribe that lived here, humans much larger than humans nowadays. There were many brawls until the land was ours."

"Large humans..." Wrathion laughed as if she had been told a joke. "They are called Vrykuls, that's what the Drust were before turning into ghosts, and also, they were druids."

"What?" Lucille said, puzzled.

"From what I know of them plus what you have said, they were Vrykuls who had a connection with nature, which is rare in the Vrykul culture. I suppose that's why they isolated themselves in Kul Tiras millennia ago, for doing unusual practices." Wrathion closed his eyes for a moment to think. "Gorak Tul must have been very powerful in life if, lacking the ordinary training of the druids at that time, he could walk through the Emerald Dream. What is the story of his defeat?"

"There were many quarrels, the Drust used their magic on nature at first. In the last round, Arom Waycrest led the attack and Gorak Tul began using death related magic. They say that Gorak Tul tried to use the stone constructs as a desperate attempt to defend the land, but ended up defeated and the entire army died with him. We had no news about the Drust until recently."

"Maybe Azeroth's wound woke them up again. So did Gorak Tul not have this kind of death magic before humans reached Kul Tiras?"

"I'm not sure. The Drust lost the first battles and didn't use this type of magic, it was later. Maybe they knew it but only used it in extreme cases. We don't know the entire story."

"Are you telling me that the only thing that was told from generation to generation was the defeat of the Drust and nothing else?"

"I think so. Not much is known about the Drust." Wrathion sighed wearily.

"Humans... Anyway. Supposing they were only druids until the human invasion began. They wanted to defend their territory, but druidic magic wasn't enough, maybe Gorak Tul found a way to use that death magic during the time… Could he use Arcane magic? No, I don't think so... But if they're dead now, it's because after that defeat, Gorak Tul began to resurrect them, so it's not clear to me that he really died..." Wrathion began to walk faster and spoke to himself as if it were a monologue. "He has power from the Emerald Dream, so he can interact with nature. He has power from the Emerald Nightmare, which is why he creates the haunted servants. They have their own lands where their power is contained, he cannot create a plane from nothing, surely he made a realm using one offshoot from the Emerald Nightmare, which he knew well. Clever... But they're spirits, ghosts... reviving things, even stones, is a magic derived from Necromancy so it's related to death and nature at the same time. But then how…? No, there are too many gaps..."

"You're making me dizzy with so much walking, Wrathion." Tess said.

"Not now, wolf cub, I'm trying to think."

"What did you mean by offshoot from the Emerald Nightmare?" Calia asked.

"Ah, in Azeroth we have different planes of reality, such as the Emerald Dream or the elemental plane, among others... But these types of realities are very difficult to create unless you're a titan. But if you have enough power and knowledge, you can, to a lesser extent, copy one of those planes by creating a separate realm. You can absorb a little power to shape the place and then fill it with your own. It's not as powerful as the planes, but it's enough to annoy."

"And how could he obtain powers related to death if he was a druid?" Anduin asked.

"I don't know, I would like to know it too, just as I would like to know how he managed to make this realm... A lot of information is missing. Are there no books about the Drust?"

"We have a book," Lucille replied. "the Tome of Silver and Ash talks about fighting Drust magic."

"I'd be interested."

"And what do we do now?" Dereck asked. Wrathion stretched.

"I would take a walk through that Crimson Forest to see if we find anything."

"Stop there." said Tess. "Do you want to go to a gloomy forest when it’s almost night?"

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of some trees..."

"It's not that, I'm just saying it's not a very good idea."

"Well if you're scared, I'll go on my own."

"No, that neither." Anduin said. "The problem is..." Anduin stopped and Wrathion looked at him expectantly. "It will be dinner soon."

Wrathion didn't move at first, but after three seconds he ran to the table where the food was and picked up some chocolate and made Anduin eat it by force, making the others laugh. Wrathion's suggestion didn't go unnoticed, Calia told them that she could accompany them and that caused the others to agree to take a walk. Lucille told them they would find dinner by the time they got back since it wouldn't be a long walk.

Calia joined them with a couple lamps in the town's center. The northern path led directly to Corlain while the southern path would lead to the Crimson Forest. The sky was completely covered by threatening rain clouds, the sun disappeared completely giving way to absolute darkness. They decided to go south and as soon as they left the Arom's Stand, they lit the lamps to cross Gol Osigr, a hill covered in snow full of ruins. Crickets were plentiful and the wind was somewhat strong by the heights as they crossed a frozen lake, but as soon as they began to descend and leave the snow behind, the trees became a barrier against the wind. They realized that they reached the edge of the forest when they saw a huge fallen log used as a bridge and a signal pole. The forest lived up to its name, the tree leaves and the grass were of an intense crimson. They entered the Crimson Forest a little suspiciously, there was very little lighting beyond their lamps, the lanterns on the road were all off for some reason. They advanced a few meters until they reached a bifurcation. The main path seemed to go left towards a town, the one on the right was a little hidden and the way wasn't indicated by stones. Anduin coughed a little before asking.

"Where should we go?" he asked.

"If we follow the main road we will arrive after ten minutes at Falconhurst, a coastal town southwest of Drustvar. The path on the right goes through the entire forest to Corlain."

"Anything to highlight about the coastal town? Are most of the missing people from there?

"Not as much as Corlain, but the last one missing was two days ago and it was from Falconhurst."

"Shall we divide?" Wrathion suggested.

"Do you want us to separate in this forest?" Tess asked, alarmed.

"Well then, go all to the coast and I go through the forest."

"I'll go with you," Anduin said. "I won't leave you alone, what if something happens to you?" the young king looked at Calia. "People who were accompanied have never disappeared, right?" Calia tried to smile, but she couldn't. "Well, he's a black dragon, a Drust won't beat him."

"Here." Calia handed one of the lamps to Anduin.

"Are you sure?" Tess wanted to make sure.

"No problem, it's just going and coming back. We meet at Arom's Stand afterwards."

Tess, Dereck and Calia followed the main stone path that would take them to shore. Wrathion and Anduin followed the path that went deeper into the forest.

The wind was spinning in one direction now, it would probably bring rain soon. The crickets kept making noise, and occasionally wolves howled or owls hooted. Anduin kept looking around for any movement. The trees in the dark were scary and the branches moved with the wind making some shapes. A few small branches snapped under his feet, and the dry leaves they stepped on broke into pieces. Anduin felt a little scared by the forest although he knew that nothing would happen to him with Wrathion on his side, it seemed that something would jump at any moment because he had the feeling that something was watching them.

"Do you feel anything?" Wrathion asked suddenly.

"Feel what?"

"Something related to the Void. I want to discard."

"I haven't felt anything in Drustvar, only the restlessness of the area. If I'm honest," Anduin lowered his head a little. "apart from nightmares, I haven't heard any voices while awake. I don't know if I should be happy or worried about it considering it's the Void." he wasn't looking at Wrathion so he didn't realize that the dragon had stopped. Anduin looked at him confused. "What's wrong?" Wrathion looked sidesteps.

"This is very calm..."

Anduin didn't understand why he said that, from the beginning the forest was calm. But he quickly realized that all sounds the animals were doing just now disappeared entirely. A light breeze passed causing the leaves of the trees to collide with each other and suddenly the forest fell into a chilling silence. Some branches snapped near them, drawing their attention, but although Anduin illuminated the area, there was nothing there.

"Don't go too far away from me..." Wrathion said quietly.

The truth is that he didn't need to tell him that, Anduin didn't intend to go even a meter away. After crossing some undergrowth, they found a stone path. They both approached the sign that was a few meters from them. If they went downhill they would reach the coast, if they went up they would go to Corlain. Since the mass kidnappings were in Corlain, they took that path. The forest sloped up and was a little strenuous, but they were more vigilant about anything that could move in the midst of silence. However, nothing happened to them when they reached the end of the forest and saw the town in the distance. But to their bad luck, a few drops of rain suddenly began to fall. They both ran towards Corlain as the rain started. Before they were completely soaked, they reached a stable where they could take shelter. Wrathion shook himself a little and Anduin sat tired. Maybe the rain would stop fast and they just had to wait.

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Tess, Dereck and Calia arrived at Falconhurst without any problem after ten minutes. The walk in the forest, although with some fear, was quite silent. They didn't see or hear anything out of place, the only thing remarkable is that all the animals were silenced suddenly before reaching the town.

Falconhurst was a fairly quiet town whose main business was fishing, but most popular, however, was that Drustvar's most famous alchemist lived there. There was still some evidence that the town was attacked by the Drust and their henchmen, but it was well disguised and everyday life had returned. The only problem there was its proximity to the Crimson Forest and the kidnappings.

"I hope nothing happened to those two." Tess said.

"Well, it's Wrathion, right? The Drust would be kidnapped by him." Dereck reassured with a certain sarcasm.

"I see that there is a lot of trust between you four." Calia commented with some admiration.

"We have been through a few big problems and have come out unscathed." Tess affirmed. "I have seen Anduin do things that I didn't expect from him and Wrathion is one of the most powerful beings I have ever seen. He practically faced off with a C'Thraxxi and a semi old god alone without hesitation."

"They're reliable," Dereck added. "and very good friends."

"I'm glad to hear that." Calia said. "When I met Anduin I didn't think he had friends like that, he seemed a little lonely, but I'm glad he has you all. I got the wrong impression."

"It wasn't like that at first." Tess said. "I have known him for about four years and it cost him to have this confidence, he wasn't very skillful in making friends, the same thing happened with Dereck. And Wrathion was even worse, he was a world criminal because of the Garrosh thing and he betrayed Anduin. But with everything we have experienced in a short time, our ties have been strengthened. We're almost a small family."

"Sounds like a family I would like to be in." Calia said almost melancholy.

"Excuse me," said a man behind them. "are you lost?" the man with a somewhat older appearance was surprised to see Calia. "Lady Calia, I hadn't seen you, apologies."

"It's okay." Calia reassured kindly. "We are just investigating."

"Are you looking for my girl?" he asked with some hope.

"Is your daughter the one who disappeared?" Dereck asked.

"Yes, my little Nola, she wanted to go to the Arom's Stand to trade, but she has not returned."

"We do our best to find the missing ones."

Suddenly, raindrops began to fall. The man said goodbye to return home and they quickly covered themselves under the balcony of a tavern. The locals ran to their houses and, where there was a lot of movement before, everything was silent except for the falling rain. Tess and Dereck pulled cloaks from their backpacks to put them on and offered one to Calia.

"This type of rain usually brings something bigger, we should return as soon as possible." Dereck said.

"It's true." confirmed Tess. "We haven't seen anything when coming, now we will see when we return. I hate crossing sinister forests when it rains."

"Let's go fast."

Calia summoned a brighter Light for the lamp, and once the cloak was put on, they returned to the forest. This time they were going much faster, the rain forced them when it began to fall much more. They saw the log bridge they crossed when they reached the forest and felt safe. But then a noise caught their attention. At first, it seemed to them that it was a scream in the distance and they stared at the forest for a few seconds, but then, some crows passed by. Not very convinced, they determined that they confused the crows squawk with a scream since it was very similar. They looked back several times as they walked away from the forest, but saw nothing. They didn't expect to find Wrathion and Anduin upon arrival since they chose the long path, but they hoped they would return safe and sound.

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Maybe waiting for the rain to stop wasn't a good idea. The rain only got worse every second and, after about five minutes, a deluge was falling. Anduin was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs as he watched the rain fall, Wrathion seemed impatient on the other hand.

"Maybe they think we have been kidnapped." Anduin commented.

"But you don't want to get your clothes wet." Wrathion said sarcastic. Anduin stared at him at first, but then looked at him with some curiosity. Anduin moved to sit next to him.

"What do you think happened to Gorak Tul so he could have death-related powers?"

"I have some ideas. Perhaps when he was overcome by humans and with the fear of losing his land, he made some deal with an entity from the Shadowlands, something that gave him power. But it's only a hypothesis."

"I find it very strange that someone like a druid would start using this type of magic."

"When they’re pushing you off the cliff, you do anything to save yourself. I have seen some go to unthinkable extremes, especially when life is in danger. Gorak Tul only wanted to defend his territory, nothing more."

"But they all ended up massacred, if Gorak Tul hadn't made that deal it would be one problem less now..."

"And then we would have no one to ask."

Wrathion smiled widely, it was contagious enough for the young king's smile to escape. The rain tightened again, now it looked like a huge storm. Anduin coughed a little as he stretched, and as soon as he stopped, a scream was heard. They both looked at the forest, it came from there. It sounded like a young girl's scream drenched in terror, something that gave Anduin goosebumps.

"You heard it, right?" Anduin said, getting up.

"Yeah..."

"We should go, we could save her... maybe it's the Drust."

"Let's go, we're close."

Anduin picked up the lamp and followed Wrathion. The rain made vision very difficult and it wasn't even five seconds in the rain before they were completely soaked. Anduin felt the water entering his boots and it gave him some cold, but the adrenaline of going into the forest was much bigger now. The scream was relatively close, so they followed the stone path for now to try to locate the girl. The lamp didn't illuminate too much because of the rain and the young king walked blindly, he could only follow Wrathion who seemed to be very aware of where he was walking. They spent the next few minutes trying to inspect the area, but found nothing. However, many branches around them were breaking, but they didn't know if it was because the rain broke them, because of the carelessness or that something broke them. Wherever they walked, the mud dirtied their boots and made running difficult. Anduin felt more restless than ever, he had a very bad feeling. A few minutes later, they stopped running and walked, thinking they were very close.

"Hey, Wrathion," the dragon looked at him. "I think we are going blindly, we should go back to the Arom's Stand."

"Weren't you the one who said to investigate?"

"I know, it's just that I think we're going in circles, the rain doesn't help either. Also... I don't like this place. I don't know, there's something that gives me a bad feeling."

"Are you scared, light-boy?"

"I didn't say that. I’m saying that we’re walking to the exact place where those people were last seen. What if maybe they found something bad and we're going to the exact place where they were kidnapped?" Wrathion suddenly gestured as if he was smelling something. "What?"

"You're right... there's something close." if Anduin wasn't scared before, now he was.

"What? Where?"

"I don't know," Wrathion looked around. "but there's something… I can't see it but I do feel something strange."

"If it's a joke to scare me... you did it, but be serious."

"Why would I lie to you?" he asked, indignant.

Something moved in a nearby brush. Wrathion placed an arm in front of Anduin protectively and stared at the forest. Anduin positioned himself a little behind Wrathion, expecting the worst. But out of the undergrowth came a pack of wolves. The young king thought he could calm down, but those wolves were growling at them and they didn't seem calm at all. Wrathion raised his hand to stop them.

“_Stila_,” said Wrathion in Draconic to them. “_me laan martivir_.” the wolf who looked like the alpha took a few steps and seemed to reply. “_Ni laan him gol edar, nunon kos zeim daar feykro_.” the wolf cocked its head and looked at Wrathion confused, howled almost at a whimper. “_Him leh waere.”_

Wrathion grabbed Anduin's arm to leave. The wolves did nothing to them, it seemed that some kind of misunderstanding had been fixed. But at the last moment, the wolf howled once more. Wrathion stopped at the sound and looked at it, but the wolf left. Anduin could see concern on Wrathion's face and how he looked everywhere, very alert.

"What happens?" Asked Anduin nervously. "Translate."

"He said... 'Be careful with the monster that takes things'."

"What?" Anduin looked puzzled at the forest. "Monster?"

"Something is stalking us... I don't like this." Wrathion felt uneasy for the first time. "I don't notice or see anything, but I know there's a presence nearby." the dragon looked at Anduin. "Run."

Anduin didn't hesitate, if it was Wrathion who said to run, it was better if he did. Both began to run as fast as they could with the certainty that something was right behind. Wrathion looked back from time to time, but still didn't see the possible enemy. After taking a few turns, they found the log that would take them to the Arom's Stand. Before crossing it, Wrathion grabbed Anduin's wrist, forcing him to stop. Anduin wanted to protest, but saw that the dragon was very surprised. He looked into the forest, but at first glance he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But in the middle of the darkness and the trees, after a few seconds, he saw something. It looked like a four legs animal figure larger than an elekk of the draenei. He couldn't see what kind of figure it had due to the darkness and the rain, but he could see its eyes, two bright blue balls floating in the middle of the darkness that drifted into the forest as it watched them. Anduin didn't know what scared him the most, seeing it or that this thing had been following them through the woods.

"Please, tell me that you have seen the same thing as me..." Anduin said. Wrathion, without releasing him, tugged his wrist to leave and go up the mountain back with the others... if that thing hasn't taken them.

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"And why aren't you completely soaked?" asked Anduin indignantly as he squeezed his shirt.

"Basic teachings of the SI:7." answered Tess. "You have to carry everything you need to face anything, that includes wearing adequate clothing for the rain."

Anduin only growled because he couldn't answer. They were able to make it safely to Arom's Stand and were relieved to see that they were all okay, but Anduin was frozen because of the rain. Lucille gave them dry clothes and announced that dinner was ready. Before eating, Anduin explained what they saw in the forest. Everyone was surprised, it was the first evidence obtained.

When they sat down to eat, Anduin began to explain in more detail what happened.

"I don't know what it was exactly, but it was there." Anduin explained while eating something, nervous. "Wrathion also saw it, the floating blue eyes that took people away, it wasn't even humanoid or animal!"

"Anduin, you aren't going to scare me..." Tess said, staring at him.

"It's not like I'm telling a horror story, Tess..."

"We also heard a scream." Dereck said. "It was very far away and we thought that maybe it was some crows that passed near us."

"I think I'm glad you didn't investigate. Maybe you would have come across that thing." Anduin said.

"Are you sure about what you saw?" Lucille asked.

"Yes. We heard the scream, I think from a young girl, and we went to investigate. A few wolves came out but Wrathion spoke to them and they said there was a monster nearby. When we were leaving the forest we saw those blue eyes among the trees."

"You're a little quiet, Wrathion." Tess pointed out. The dragon seemed somewhat absent and thoughtful.

"It's that..." he began. "There was something strange. Wolves don't call anyone a 'monster'. That's because what's really there is a monster. That thing, or whatever it is, didn't emit any kind of power, it's as if it was invisible. I could notice a physical presence nearby but… I don't know why it could be."

"What if it's because you've never come across such powers?" Anduin suggested.

"No... power is power, I'll always notice it. I think it has a powerful camouflage to go undetected, this is why it can kidnap people."

"We must find the missing people." Dereck said. "Now we know what is behind it, it will be easier."

"Hey... let's be honest." Wrathion cut in. "These missing people are probably dead."

"Don't be pessimistic." Anduin said. "Maybe they’re being held somewhere."

"Anduin, Anduin... when someone disappears and forty eight hours pass, you will most likely be looking for a corpse. And I see no reason why the Drust should leave them alive." Anduin looked away.

"I think we should go back anyway." Tess said. "Tomorrow morning with daylight and no rain."

"I agree." Wrathion replied.

The rest of the dinner ended without much more to say about it, information was missing and they could only speculate. Once they helped clear the table and decided to go to sleep, Lucille told them that there was only one room left upstairs due to saturation of important people. Tess told Anduin to take it, she would go with Dereck to a nearby inn although the young king told her to stay in the free room. In the end Anduin ended up giving in and they fixed an hour to see each other in the morning.

Lucille loaned the book on Drust magic to Wrathion, the only one available. The dragon followed Anduin into the room, he intended to stay up all night reading, so he preferred to be in a quiet place. As soon as he entered the room, Anduin ran to the bed and dropped into it. Wrathion sat at the desk and leafed through the book. The young king stayed face down for a long time, his head was hurting after all day.

"Are you going to sleep like this?" Wrathion asked.

Anduin only replied with a grunt. Someone knocked on the door after a few minutes, and since Anduin didn't seem to move, Wrathion got up to see who it was. He was surprised to see Tess, invited her inside and Anduin got up.

"Is everything okay?" asked the young king.

"Afraid to sleep today?" Wrathion asked wryly.

"No, I just have to ask you something... important." Tess said to Anduin. Wrathion sat back in the chair distracted by the book. Tess closed the door and began to hesitate.

"Tell me." Anduin insisted.

"I don't know how to ask you, is that... You're a boy, you will know better and it's not something I can ask my father, of course..." Anduin frowned slightly.

"What do you want to ask?"

"What do you think is the best way to... or for you the best way to... You know, when you... take a little relief." Anduin frowned even more. Wrathion glanced at her, about to laugh.

"I don't understand anything." Tess grabbed his shirt like she was going to hit him.

"Anduin, this is the peak of our friendship, I need advice with something unknown to me!"

"But I don't know what you’re talking about!"

"I'm talking about..." Tess sighed. "Sex, Anduin, sex. I have no idea what men like, so I ask, I need some foundation." Wrathion began to laugh exaggeratedly as the young king took four steps away from Tess.

"But what are you saying!? Why me!?"

"I can't ask anybody, trust is needed. And you," she pointed at Wrathion. "stop laughing."

"It's just too funny." Wrathion regained his composure. "I would have never imagined this, besides, you ask the wrong person."

"It's about confidence, do you know that I can't ask almost anyone? I'm asking how to excite someone, I'm ashamed to say it because I have no idea of anything." Wrathion finally stopped laughing.

"Don't worry, I know it's a very taboo subject among humans for some reason. But it's clear that Anduin isn’t the person you should ask. Look how uneasy he is." Anduin only had the discomfort on his face.

"It was my last hope..."

"Hey, I know why you ask, but honestly, it's not difficult to excite a man, especially if such a man is in love with you. Just undressing in front of him is probably enough."

"The problem isn’t only that, it's also what comes next."

"Are we really having this conversation?" asked Anduin stunned and uncomfortable.

"Cover your ears if you want." Wrathion said almost jokingly, then looked back at Tess. "Are you both inexperienced?"

"I think so."

"Well, better, there's nothing shameful you can do. You can take it as an exploration game and discover what you like or don't like, without pressure."

"But I would like to know something."

"Okay, since Anduin won't say anything, come." Wrathion waved her to get closer and whispered in her ear. The young king only frowned, and didn't know what he was saying. Tess' face changed to surprise and she was thoughtful for a few seconds.

"There are things that I still don't know… Thanks for the advice. See you tomorrow."

"Have fun." Wrathion returned his gaze to the book and Tess went out the door happy. Anduin was still in semi shock.

"But what did you say to her?" Anduin asked suddenly.

"Are you interested?"

"No, I really don't want to know... Why did she ask that to me?"

"She feels in trust with you. Another thing is that you don't know anything about it." Anduin clicked his tongue and Wrathion looked at him. "Why are you so shy to talk about sex? What's the problem?"

"Aren't you ashamed?"

"Why should I? It's a natural thing."

"For me it's something personal. It's something between you and your partner, talking to others doesn't seem normal to me."

"For being someone with an open mind, you're very closed with this. Is a culture thing in your homeland or the church? Nothing happens for speaking about it. You should never reject knowledge, whatever it is."

"But for me it's private, it's something that I would only do or talk to the person I love. I guess you don't care because you will often do it." Wrathion frowned at that comment.

"Do you think I'm that type of person who sleeps with many people?"

"I suppose? I have heard that many people get information that way." Wrathion laughed.

"Gods, if I want something from someone, I don't have sex, I usually torture them."

"I don't know what seems dirtier..."

"Seriously, what kind of life do you think I had?" Wrathion looked at him seriously and Anduin began to hesitate. If he thought about it, he didn't think Wrathion would have done something like that if N'Zoth was his enemy, he had to be careful. "It doesn't matter, leave it. I have never slept with anyone because I agree on something you said."

"With what?"

"I would only do it with someone I love, I would only reserve myself to the right person." Anduin scratched his head and put on an expression of pain. "What's with your face now?"

"It's just that my head hurts a lot."

"Try the double S." Anduin looked at him confused.

"What's that?"

"Shower and sleep." Anduin raised his eyebrows. "Lucille said that 'make yourself at home' so why not?"

"It could be a good idea. I'll be right back."

Anduin went into the bathroom on the other side of the room. He used hot water at first to create steam and try to relax more. He wanted to get all that talk out of his head and to his surprise, he didn't think about it anymore, but it was only because of his headache. He didn't quite know what was happening to him. He didn't think the headache was from the previous conversation, since dinner he already felt pain. The hot water eventually suffocated him and he switched to cold immediately, he wasn't sure that it was really helping him.

As he came out, he saw Wrathion reading more concentrated in a somewhat odd posture in the chair, one leg by the crossbar and his head on the armrest. Anduin pulled back the sheets slightly to get inside.

"What about you? You won't sleep?" Asked the young king with a slightly muffled voice.

"I prefer to read."

"Lately you sleep much less than before, and before it was almost nil."

"But I prefer to read."

"Just come here."

Wrathion sighed and made an exaggerated jump to the bed, Anduin flew for a second. The young king blew out the nearest candle and Wrathion blew out the other with his magic. There was no problem being in the dark, Wrathion could read in the dark perfectly. But after a while, Anduin looked at him again.

"You're kidding?" asked Anduin, surprised.

"Seriously? You can't see in the dark!"

"Just because I don't see doesn't mean I don't know you. Go to sleep."

"You too, tomorrow will be a long day."

Anduin groaned as he rested his head on his pillow again. The only reason he wanted to be near the dragon was because he felt more secure like this, he still had the bad feeling left from his brief stay in the forest. Wrathion sighed lightly, but put the book aside to turn around and look at Anduin. This was definitely a problem. Although he asked for such simple things, Wrathion was so in love with him that he was unable to say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, I think the Drust must be scary :( Or that's how I want to imagine them.  
You know? A long time ago I wondered what it would be like to talk about sex in Azeroth, whether it would be very taboo or not, and I concluded that at least those who are connected to the church must be very reluctant to talk about it, like Anduin here. Meh, I found it interesting.  
Thanks for reading, if you leave kudo or comment I will appreciate it :) Until next time!


	33. A door in the basement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I don't have much to say apart of my low spirits, I hope you're okay.  
Sorry for grammar mistakes, I hope is enjoyable anyway.

Anduin's head was on fire. Obviously it was metaphorical, for him it was the way to describe how his head hurt. When he woke up, it was the first thing he noticed, the headache got worse and he had a slight sore throat. Anduin settled into bed and slowly massaged his forehead. He had had a somewhat strange dream, it wasn't a nightmare at least, but something spoke to him in the distance. Now he no longer remembered what the voice was saying exactly because of the headache, but he remembered the words 'look for it' constantly, but, look for what? Was it related to what was happening nowadays or was it something else?

"Look for it..." Anduin looked to his left, Wrathion slept next to him and was speaking again in dreams. The young king frowned as he realized Wrathion said that. Perhaps he heard Wrathion say it during the night and that’s why he heard it in his dream? Anduin wanted to hear more, but the dragon began to murmur in Draconic and understood nothing.

"Wrathion." Anduin shook his friend's shoulder and tried to wake him up. "Come on, wake up, the sun has risen." as much as he shook him, it didn't seem like he was going to wake up. That was weird, the dragon wasn't supposed to have a deep sleep. "Wrathion?" Anduin shook him with both hands and Wrathion quickly grabbed the young king's wrist as if he had actually attacked him and put his other hand under the pillow. Seeing that it was Anduin, he calmed down with a sigh.

"I told you, if you want to wake me up, yell in my ear. Doing that disturbs me a lot."

"You were speaking again in Draconic and I just got up, I didn't remember." Wrathion sat up and rubbed his eyes, but when he looked at Anduin, he frowned.

"What's with the face?" he asked with some concern. Anduin hadn't thought that perhaps he was showing the worst possible face, but he wanted to take away all the importance as he always did.

"Nothing, I just haven’t slept well... because it's a different pillow." Wrathion raised an eyebrow, not very convinced.

"Whatever..." the dragon stood up, shook his head and put on his boots. "By the way," he said suddenly as he put on his belt and scarf. "last night I sent a note to Ebyssian explaining what happened. I may get a response soon."

"Great." Anduin got up too, but felt a slight dizziness. "Hey, I'm going to... take a quick and cold shower to wake up. Don't wait for me."

Wrathion frowned at him again, but decided not to say anything and went outside. Anduin put the water quite cold, more than he used to. He didn't understand where that headache was coming from. Was it because of his dreams? It had once happened to him with a nightmare, but never so intense. Maybe it was the voice? That was more possible. Anduin didn't use the shower too much, he was starting to get hungry and immediately dressed up to go downstairs to the living room where they had dinner yesterday while still rubbing his forehead. As soon as he entered, he saw that Calia was having coffee while talking to Wrathion, he was standing leaning against the wall.

"And what's in the center?" Wrathion asked.

"There is a big dry tree." Calia replied. "There was water around before, but it dried up a few years ago and now there is only the small pond next to it, or so they told me. We don't usually go there."

"Has anyone ever inspected it?"

"Well, when we faced the coven we were close, eliminating haunted servitors. But it was never inspected. People are afraid of anything related to the forest."

"In that case I already know where to go now."

"Good Morning." Anduin said sitting on a nearby chair.

"Good morning, Anduin." Calia replied smiling, but changed her face when he saw Anduin's. "Are you okay? You don't look well."

"I'm fine, I just haven’t slept well."

Anduin excused himself as usual, he preferred not to worry, much less at times like this. Wrathion commented that they would approach the center of the forest in search of some clue. Once Anduin had a light breakfast, the three went outside to look for Tess and Dereck, who were still at the inn. It was a little cold, but at least it didn't seem like it would rain in the morning, there were only a few clouds in the sky. As they approached the inn they saw Tess and Dereck's clothes hung on one of the windows that faced the outside. Rather than calling them or entering the inn, Wrathion decided to throw small stones inside until he caught their attention. Dereck was the first to peek out while putting on a T-shirt.

"Hey..." he greeted.

"Hello!" Wrathion said. "Warming up?" Tess peeked on one side too. "So, 'are you cuming'?"

"Huh?" Dereck wasn't sure he heard correctly. Calia laughed lightly and Wrathion sighed before repeating.

"I said: 'are you cuming'?" Dereck looked at Tess somewhat concerned. Calia was still giggling and Anduin didn't understand the pun because he wasn't paying attention to the pronunciation.

"We’ll join you in a few seconds." Dereck said. Tess looked at him wearily.

"Asshole..." she murmured.

They waited a few minutes until both spies joined. Wrathion teased them for a while until he earned a punch from Tess. Anduin explained the plan they had for today and, since there was a lot of sunlight, they agreed to go to the forest. Being guided by Calia once more, they went down Gol Osigr until they found the trunk-bridge. The forest was much prettier in the morning, no gloomy shadows and a single lamp trying to light up. The smell of wet grass permeated the entire forest and occasionally a leaf made them slip. There was a very thick mist, it was the only thing that gave a gloomy touch.

They followed the main path to Falconhurst, but instead of going to town, they continued on the path that led further to the center of the forest. The silence was only disturbed when Anduin coughed, but even with that noise, nothing appeared to attack them, it seemed like an abandoned forest.

As they approached the center after a long time, the mist seemed to intensify slightly. The tree that symbolized the center of the entire grove had the widest trunk in the forest, but it wasn't too tall and looked neglected and dry. That big tree was baptized years ago as Gol Inath, according to Calia, and the large roots, on one side, went to the nearest water. There wasn't much vegetation around, a little grass and the occasional bush. The dirt road itself led to the base of the tree. Wrathion was the first to approach, quite curious and came across something very peculiar. Adorned by blue flame candles, he could see a rock entrance that covered much of the crust.

"This cannot be a natural formation, for sure." Tess said. "Was it some citizen of Drustvar who adorned this?"

"No, I was told that no one has ever desecrated the forest in any way." Calia assured. Wrathion saw that there was something acting as a door and reached out with one hand, but withdrew it almost instantly at the touch of magic.

"It burns!" exclaimed the dragon, shaking his hand.

"Is there anything that can burn you?" Tess asked, puzzled.

"Not the way you think. It has a barrier, it must be Drust magic." Wrathion gripped his weapon and ran the sharp blade through the barrier. Blue magic leap like almost imperceptible sparks and Wrathion was thoughtful. "I'm not sure how to break this barrier without hurting me... I should’ve read the book instead of falling asleep for the sake of a certain someone." he jokingly glared at Anduin, but he was distracted and didn't flinch.

"What do we do?" Dereck asked.

"Let me inspect it first."

Wrathion concentrated, raising his hand towards the barrier. He wasn't a blue dragon, so he couldn't see the structure of that magic with perfect accuracy, but he could see and study what shape the barrier had. At first glance, it seemed like a complex barrier, he didn't think he could break it alone with his magic, he would probably need something more. Still, he tried to overload it to see how it would react. At first, he noted that he could reach the peak of power with which it was made, but it was a new magic to him, so he didn't know how to undo or overload it correctly and the barrier wasn't altered in any way. He has to read that damn book. Wrathion stopped trying since he didn't know how to manipulate that kind of magic without harming himself. The others sat looking expectantly, but seeing Wrathion's face, they became discouraged.

"Don't make that face," Wrathion said. "I'll find out how to break it."

"What do we do now? Do we stay here?" Tess asked.

"I don’t think this is the only place with a barrier to protect something important, right? We could look for these points. Maybe this place is the monster's lair, and I would say there are more."

"Why do you believe that?"

"When Lucille showed us Drustvar's map, she pointed out several areas. I don't think it's the same monster."

"It's true," said Calia. "the kidnappings go by zones, one alone wouldn’t be able to do all. Well, that we know..."

"I would say there are more." Wrathion started walking. "Apart from this forest and the southeast of Drustvar, was there another place where it happened?"

"In the north," Calia sighed. "in upper Corlain, near the Waycrest manor."

"Now that I think about it." Dereck interrupted. "The manor is the home of the Waycrest, isn't it? Why doesn't Lucille live there?"

"There are certain problems with the manor and the surroundings." Calia crossed her arms. "The area was like the bastion of the coven, there is still a lot of 'garbage' from those days and also it is said that the place has been cursed. Some Corlain citizens claim that they see ghosts at night and strange voices are heard."

"Is the place haunted?" Wrathion asked. "Perfect, let's take a look."

"You really like sinister things..." said Tess.

Everyone got up except Anduin, he was completely distracted and it took several seconds for him to realize that Wrathion offered his hand to help him to get up. Anduin felt his vision blur as he got up so fast and the dragon frowned.

"What's that over there?" Dereck asked, very surprised, pointing to the nearest tree.

The others looked in that direction. They saw that at the base of a tree there was a strange figure somewhat hidden. They approached with some care to inspect it closely. It had a humanoid shape at first glance; two arms, two legs, chest and head, but it was made of branches, cloth, and some stone. It was standing leaning against the tree with its arms placed making a cross on its chest.

"This is... one of the haunted servitors that used to be here when the coven was around." Calia explained, puzzled. "How strange, we eliminated them all, as I remember."

"Are they from the coven or the Drust?" Tess wanted to confirm.

"They are enchanted with Drust magic, but they responded to the witches too."

"Well, you forgot this one." Dereck said. Wrathion stared at the servant. "Is something wrong, Wrathion? You seem rapt."

There was something in that thing. Wrathion read the beginning of the book that was loaned to him, he still remembered that it was about these creatures, but he didn't read the part that explains the magic. According to that book, those haunted things were only made of wood, furs and some stone, making them almost skeletal and fragile beings. But the one in front of them didn't fit that description, it seemed that it had the constitution of a well fed human and the branches or stones were only clothing. But while he was thinking, he could feel it... the magic was flowing inside that thing.

"It's alive..." Wrathion murmured.

As soon as he said that, the servant moved. It made an attempt to attack Wrathion, reaching out to strangle him, but the dragon was much faster. With his reflexes, he unsheathed his dagger and nailed it in the being's chest. The haunted lowered its arms and stayed impaled until Wrathion pushed it to the ground. The others only had time to take a step back and they were left with their mouths open, something that intensified more when blood began to flow from the attacker.

"Is that... blood?" asked Anduin insecurely.

"You just killed someone!" Tess exclaimed.

"No," Wrathion reassured. "it has Drust magic, it’s already dead."

"Then what is that?"

Wrathion carefully approached and pulled out his impaled dagger. More blood gushed out of the wound, but it was much dull red color, more dead, so Wrathion was right. The dragon removed the branches and cloth that covered the body until they sawa slightly discolored human flesh, a woman's chest was exposed. Wrathion quickly removed what she was wearing on the head and realized that it was actually like a helmet, and the face of a young girl was revealed.

"A girl?" Dereck asked. "But... How?"

"She's dead..." Wrathion assured. "How did she end up here?"

"Oh... by the Light..." Calia said with fright, covering her mouth with one hand. "This girl is the one who disappeared two days ago."

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Dazar’alor was in constant motion. Baine highly praised the Zandalaris' lifestyle, they were always very much alive. That environment no longer used to exist in Orgrimmar, in the capital now only an aura of fear and absolute discouragement prevailed. That was especially due to the Forsaken when they left Undercity. As they were homeless, they decided to bring their 'lifestyle' to Orgrimmar. So the city now seemed to have a dead aura, the Forsaken ended up creating it. It wasn't as if Baine wanted to drive them out of the city, they were part of the Horde, but he would have preferred that their 'lifestyle' hadn't been implemented over the other races. That's why Baine preferred to stay in Zandalar nowadays, to be able to see a lively city again.

The tauren was accompanied by Mayla as they crossed the Grand Bazaar of Dazar’alor on their way to the port and looked for The Banshee's Wail ship. They had to find Nathanos and told him they were going to Drustvar for the looting. Before reaching the dock, they found Ebyssian waiting. Baine greeted as he caught up with him.

"Ebonhorn." said the young tauren with a small nod.

"I had to tell you something." the old dragon began. "I received a note from Wrathion."

"Did he say something bad?" Mayla asked.

"No. He says that they are already in Drustvar investigating and that the Drust magic is a bit strange. Apparently they mix druidism with necromancy and they have a kind of monster in the forest."

"Is that kind of magic possible?"

"It looks like. Are you going to talk to Nathanos?"

"Yes," Baine replied. "I hope he lets us go without asking strange questions."

"Okay, I will answer Wrathion once you spoke to Nathanos."

Mayla decided to stay with Ebyssian because she didn't like dealing with Nathanos too much. Baine had no problem with her decision, he knew that Nathanos was sometimes complicated and he went alone to the ship. Baine felt the same nervousness as always when he stepped on that deck once he found it, he had many discussions on that ship for which Sylvanas then looked at him suspiciously. He asked a forsaken sailor where Nathanos was, since he didn't see him on deck, and explained that he was in the captain's cabin. The young tauren frowned slightly, but walked to the cabin and tapped on the wooden door. Nathanos opened, his face unfriendly as always, and stared, waiting for the tauren to say something.

"Sorry for bothering you, Nathanos, I come to announce my next move." Baine said calmly. Nathanos opened the door wider as if it was an invitation to enter. The cabin was quite dark and a Kul Tiras map was on the table.

"Want to find a new looting point?" Nathanos asked after a while.

"Yes, this time I want to change zones. I would like to inspect Drustvar."

"After the failure in Drustvar the only and last time, why do you want to go?"

"To cover such failure and offer a better site."

"It seems that you have taken a liking to this." a female voice said. Baine thought he turned pale when he heard her. Since it was dark, he didn't notice that Sylvanas was sitting on one side of the cabin playing with an arrow.

"Syl... Warchief." Baine bowed before her. "Forgive me, I haven't seen you. I didn't know you were in Zandalar." Sylvanas seemed indifferent as she continued to look at the tip of her arrow.

"Why are you interested in doing this? You never liked it." Sylvanas wanted to know.

"There is a lot of talk that it is a difficult area because some still believe there are witches there, but I want to demonstrate otherwise." Baine wasn't sure if it was a good excuse.

"I suppose you will go with Mayla and the dragon, as always."

"We make a good team and it has been going well for now." Sylvanas looked at him askance. Baine may have imagined it, but thought he saw a little mistrust in her gaze.

"I still don't know the real reason. The last place you pointed out, they told me, wasn't a good looting point to make the Kultirans pay after all the time you were in Tiragarde."

"It's not my fault that they were inept. It was a good point, but they didn't do well. I hope this time they are smarter." Sylvanas got up and took a few steps towards Baine.

"I hope so, because every time you want to point a place, you will accompany the group from now on." Baine blinked in surprise.

"If it's not a nuisance... Why do you want me to do that?"

"It’s just insurance. Or do you have a complaint?

"No…"

"My queen." Nathanos said. "Maybe it’s better not to turn down offers to help, we will need more people to-" Sylvanas raised her hand to shut him up and Nathanos closed his mouth.

"It's okay like that." she concluded. "You can leave in two days to Drustvar and choose a looting point." Baine had a few seconds of indecision. "Understood?"

"Understood, Warchief…"

Baine stepped back, the two dead were in a secret meeting and had been caught in the middle of it. Baine left the ship fast and found the others at the entrance to the port. It was very bad news actually, as much as he'd gotten permission to go. Mayla quickly realized that something had gone wrong just because of Baine's semi scared face.

"What happened?" Mayla asked at once.

"We can go in two days to Drustvar."

"And what is the problem?"

"Sylvanas was there..." both tauren widened their eyes.

"But..." Ebyssian began. "Wasn't she in Orgrimmar?"

"I was surprised to see her too. She has confronted me a little. But she has dictated that, as soon as I point out a place to loot, we have to go to the looting ourselves."

"Why?"

"She suspects something." Mayla narrowed her eyes.

"Well, maybe it's not that bad. If we meditate well, we won't harm many innocent people."

"There's something else," Baine sighed. "I think she's up to something new." both frowned. "Nathanos gave himself away slightly with a comment and Sylvanas silenced him suddenly. I don't know what it can be but..."

"Things may get complicated..."

"For now, Ebonhorn you should send a message to Wrathion saying that we are going in two days. Maybe we can get something clear with the Drust."

"I will do it." Ebyssian said. "We should prepare."

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The kidnappings were much worse than imagined. There was no hope for the missing now.

They were all dead, that was indisputable, but the possible reasons were horrifying. Gorak Tul was making new troops with the missing. Using the monster he had through the forest, he would kill them and then resurrect them to become those haunted servitors even though they were still decomposing. He didn't like losing the coven, so not only did he increase his ranks again, he also reduced the number of enemies and left them with fear and bewilderment by not knowing what was really attacking them. That was the conclusion, if there was another reason, it was completely unknown.

Calia decided to take the remains of the poor girl to Falconhurst to the family, it was the least she could do, she had to rest in peace. They had to witness the parents giving in to grief and tears. Calia tried to comfort them without much success, whatever she said, it wouldn't be enough now. The others didn't even know how to act, they found it all by surprise and only gave condolences to the family.

As noon approached, they decided to walk through the forest once more for any hint of anything and eat at Corlain. To their luck or misfortune, they saw nothing in the woods again. A hypothesis was created that these monsters only acted at night.

Corlain wasn't a very busy town unlike the others, but it was understandable, it was still recovering. Most people greeted Calia with a nod, the rest looked with some confusion. There was a tavern arranged where they could eat. The owner seemed delighted to have customers, he offered them one of the best tables and the attention was immediate. The table was quickly filled with assorted food, Honey-Glazed Haunches and Seasoned Steak and Potatoes as the stars. As they ate, Tess asked about the next move.

"Are we going to the north to see if we see something?"

"I'd take a look at the manor, see what's inside." Wrathion said.

"That would be trespassing." Calia said.

"Lucille said 'no worries' so we can go inside. You say that people think it's haunted, maybe we found something useful."

"Yes! A haunted house!" Dereck said sarcastically.

"Anduin," Tess called. "I see your food but I don't see you devour." the young king was distracted almost without touching the food. He drank some water to cover it up.

"I'm not very hungry." he replied in a tired voice. Dereck dropped his cutlery.

"Are you sick?"

"No, I'm just not hungry."

Neither looked at the young king with much conviction, Anduin always wanted to eat. He hadn’t said anything during the day, and Anduin was getting worse. The headache kept him from thinking and daylight seemed to shine too brightly in his eyes. The truth is, he didn't know how much longer he would last, but being in the middle of something important like that prevented himself from saying something about it.

After spending almost an hour in the tavern, they asked around about the alleged things happening lately in Upper Corlain and the manor. They all said similar things: there are spirits in the place, strange shadows and the occasional scream from nowhere. When they were cleaning, they noticed that some things were moving from their places and that started to instill fear in them. As soon as the first kidnap happened, they began to go less around the area and, as everything got worse, they would only return if the issue was solved.

Knowing that, they started the little walk. It wasn't very far away, it wasn't even fifteen minutes walking up a slight slope. Upper Corlain was like a village around the manor for the wealthy and privileged protected by a wall. The main entrance was a large metal gate that used to be locked with a padlock, but it was open to any brave person who approached.

Upon entering, it looked like a totally abandoned ghost town. There was no sound to hear but the wind, and there was a thin layer of mist at their feet. They advanced in silence, as if they didn't want to disturb an imaginary beast. The doors of the manor were locked though, they realized when they tried to open them. Dereck pulled out the lockpicks to force the lock, but it was taking him quite a while until Wrathion grew impatient and kicked the door down. Everyone looked at him in surprise, but they took it as the invitation to enter.

The atmosphere in the manor was of pure decay, it had been left quite neglected with all the dust and cobwebs on the walls or furniture. The entrance was a very large room with a door at each end and there were large stairs that led to a second floor. Calia told them that if they followed a hallway, they could go around the entire manor and go back to the entrance, so they decided to do it.

Wrathion had a feeling of unease since they started walking, he was pretty sure there was something there, but he was having trouble locating it. Perhaps he could find it if he expanded his magic range and drew attention to the being that was there. The steps through the hallways were quite noisy, rather than a recently vacated mansion it looked like they were in a ten years old abandoned house, the wood looked somewhat rotten. They went through the kitchens first, everything was messed up like if it had been looted and then they went through the inner courtyard. The fountain that adorned the courtyard was almost destroyed and black symbols of the coven were still painted on the ground.

When they went back inside, Wrathion noticed it perfectly, something was following closely. It was a feeling similar to what he had in the forest, so he assumed it was the same species. However, the one there wasn't as powerful as the one in the forest. The only sure thing is that Wrathion couldn't see it with the naked eye, it was using camouflage or a strange invisibility technique. They returned to the entrance after two minutes.

"Shall we inspect the second floor now?" Dereck asked.

"Let's go, although if we don't find anything there..." Tess said, somewhat discouraged. "There isn't much else where we could look."

"There is also a basement," Calia announced. "it would be the only thing."

"Stop."

Wrathion forced them to stop, that being was in the entrance with them. The others just looked at him wondering what was going on, but the dragon closed his eyes and concentrated. It was time to look with the inner eye and locate the focus of magic that he was noticing so much. It was only dark at first, he couldn't see the enemy's magic aura, he noticed the Light coming from Calia, he noticed the Void and the Light from Anduin… Where was the Drust magic hiding? There was a small crack in the ceiling above his head. Wrathion started making a fireball in his hand slowly, if he found the exact spot, he just needed to have a little aim. He expanded his concentration when a kind of bluish aura showed a few meters from him, there it was, that creature stuck upside down on the ceiling... there it was.

Wrathion opened his eyes and threw the fireball into a corner of the ceiling, he knew that he hit it squarely when something of medium size screeched and fell engulfed in flames, the others were surprised to see it. Once the flames began to dissipate they realized that it looked like a black dog, but with its paws a bit longer than normal, it had no fur, it also had no face with a nose or mouth, it just had something that Anduin recognized.

"The eyes..." muttered the young king. "They are like the ones we saw in the forest!" the creature recovered after shaking a bit and ran down the hall from which they came from.

"Don't let it escape!" Wrathion said as the chase began.

They followed it as fast as they could down the hall. The creature was quite fast, Wrathion was the most agile and had trouble reaching it. The dragon started to get close as they were about to reach the courtyard, but the creature turned down a hallway and broke a closed door. Behind the door, stairs were found that led to a dark basement. Although the others hesitated when comparing the entrance to the basement with a supposed entrance to the realm of the dead, they decided to stick right behind Wrathion, since he was the only one who wasn't a bit scared and they went downstairs. Calia used the Light to illuminate as they walked. Anduin wanted to do it too, but he didn't have the necessary concentration, he was feeling quite bad. The basement was quite a bit wider than the entrance and they nearly lost track of it, but Wrathion could see the magic trail and knew that the creature went even further down other nearby stairs.

"Those stairs lead to the place where the matriarch was defeated." Calia commented in a low voice. "And it's also where we saw Gorak Tul."

"This looks quite spooky." Tess said.

"I'm not afraid of the dead." Wrathion said, determined to go down.

As the dragon followed the path, the others followed him out of inertia and because he was the one with most power. The stairs that went down were circular in shape and led to a room that contained a large organ. It was that place where Lucille's mother fell, although there was no sign of her. Wrathion saw that creature again close to the organ and threw another fireball at it again, but this time he missed. With a jump, the creature fell to the ground and ran towards a gap in the wall. The dragon didn't hesitate, he ran to the same gap, but when he was about to cross it, he hit a barrier. Wrathion felt it burn him slightly and he took a few steps back, angrily.

"Shit…"

"What is it?" Tess asked.

"There's a barrier like the one on the tree."

"What?" Calia looked at the gap as if she could see it. "What do we do? That thing escaped that way..."

"Is not that strong compared to the one we saw in the forest." Wrathion touched the barrier with the tip of his weapon. "I will destroy it."

Wrathion used his magic. He could see the same shape he saw on the tree, but it was so much weaker. If he did it right, he could overload it with magic and it would disappear. His hands trembled slightly as he made a gap from top to bottom, he just had to give one last push. He could feel the magic melting inside before the barrier fell like a broken glass, the way opened. It was a pity that he couldn't do the same with the one he saw earlier, but he was grateful that this one was so weak.

Wrathion was the first to enter with extreme caution, the gap led to a kind of tunnel dug in the ground that led a little lower. The others followed one by one, it was quite narrow and they felt a certain claustrophobia until they reached a room. The room was dark and wide, they were on a platform above what appeared to be an altar so they went downstairs to see it up close. A bluish light was shining on the altar, partially illuminating the place. Going down, they saw that just below the platform was a pool of completely black water.

"That light..." Anduin said with a slightly hoarse voice. "It's a little strange..."

Wrathion looked at it too, it was as hypnotic as staring at a bonfire. But immediately he noticed the presence of the being he was chasing and looked at the black water. The ground was earthen, so the dragon used his magic on it to lift it to make pointy earth daggers and threw them into the water. The creature jumped out of there when it got hit by one, it was wounded. It stayed upside down the platform and seemed to be inspecting them. Suddenly, it moved quickly to the side of the wall, like a lizard. Wrathion used his remaining sharp pieces of earth to hit it, only one hit on one leg and knocked it to the ground. The creature quickly stood and continued its course to the altar as if it was fleeing, as if the light was going to save it. Wrathion then realized what the light really was.

"Don't let it escape through the portal!" he exclaimed. Dereck stood in its way with his daggers drawn and stabbed it away.

"Portal?" he asked, confused. The creature leaped to attack him, but Dereck defended himself with his daggers and only took a scratch on one cheek.

"Portal to where?" Tess asked, standing next to Dereck as she uploaded her crossbow on her forearm. The creature looked tired and made an attempt to attack Tess, but Dereck stabbed it again and left it motionless on the ground.

"I think... I think I killed it." before celebrating, the creature moved and grabbed Dereck's foot. Tess got so scared that she shot two arrows in the head at once. There were a few seconds of silence.

"Now it must be dead..." she said, still frightened.

They wanted to see it closer, but the creature began to evaporate and turned to ash, leaving a small shadow on the ground where it lay. Wrathion approached the portal. It wasn't a conventional one. Instead of a hole breaking the space, it was just a light that was channeled from the altar to the ceiling in a dark bluish color, and these types of portals didn't let you cross easily.

"Where does that portal lead?" Tess insisted.

"I would say it's to the Blighted Lands." Wrathion replied. "It's Drust magic, so I don't see any other place it could lead to. This place is the den of that thing that we killed, the water right there is like a pool of healing."

"We can't leave that portal there." Calia said. "More may come, but I don't know how we should do it."

"It's not a big deal and it has been here a short time, I can notice that it was made not long ago."

Wrathion had to do something similar with the barrier, he had to overload the portal. The good thing about the portals is that they were simpler to understand than a barrier. They all opened a bridge to the other side, and all bridges could be 'easily' destroyed. At first it was closed, but as he charged it with his own magic, Wrathion opened the portal to its fullest. He couldn't see inside, the atmosphere on the other side was too blurry, so he preferred not to leave it open so long and make it explode. It was obvious that creating these monsters and making portals required time and energy, he thought that they wouldn't create them in a while. As soon as the portal exploded, it made a small shock wave that knocked the others to the ground.

At least they already knew how everything happened. Those creatures were created in the Blighted Lands and hid the portal in places like that. The place was used as a burrow and it seemed that they rested during the day in these pools to be able to grow. They had a good camouflage system so it was difficult to see them, but they didn't seem to be very powerful beasts, they were like an advance party to kidnap people little by little, they weren't a challenge to kill. All they had to do was locate them.

Calia said that she would tell Lucille to send people to clean the place definitively since that threat was no longer there. The monster that was covering the Crimson Forest was hiding in the tree in the center, the inconvenience is that Wrathion couldn't break the barrier yet. Besides, there was at least one more monster covering the southeast area of Drustvar, but they had to locate it.

They left the manor when the afternoon was at its best time, they didn't notice the time that had passed. As they walked out of Upper Corlain, Calia pulled out the map she was carrying to show locations.

"Let’s suppose it is as we say." Calia began. "The portal was in the Waycrest manor, so the monster from there covered the entire northern area for kidnappings. That includes the Chapel, the Wharf, and at least part of Corlain."

"Then there's the one in the Crimson Forest." added Tess. "That covers the entire forest, Corlain and Falconhurst."

"Yes, it only remains to locate the place in the southeast..."

"Could you point out possible places?" Wrathion asked. Calia was thoughtful.

"It's usually between Fletcher’s hollow and Fallhaven, above Fallhaven it doesn't usually happen." she pointed to the forest between the towns.

"Any large cave or Drust ruins where a monster can hide?"

"I can think of some places..." Calia pointed to a point in the forest. "There's a graveyard here, we could check it out."

While everyone was attentive looking at the map and Calia pointed out what she remembered, Anduin fell behind. He didn't want to say anything about his headache, but he couldn't take it anymore. At the manor, he felt very disoriented and his head danced from side to side. Now, outside under the sunlight, he understood that he wasn't okay at all. The headache was too much to bear, his throat ached too, and the slightest shiny thing blinded him. He approached, unable to fix his gaze on Wrathion, he dropped onto his shoulders. The dragon looked slightly back.

"Do you want a hug?" Wrathion asked wryly.

"I don't feel good..." hearing Anduin's weak voice, Wrathion turned around, concerned. Then the young king dropped into his arms and the dragon held him tight.

"Anduin?" Tess asked. "What's wrong?"

"My head…"

Wrathion lifted Anduin up and helped him sit down on a nearby stone. Anduin was somewhat pale with a lost look and his neck was a little sweaty. Calia used the Light over his head to locate the problem.

Tess immediately put her hand on the young king's forehead and immediately noticed what was happening to him.

"But you're burning..." she said with big concern. "A lot, since when have you been like this?"

"I felt bad last night, but it has gotten worse these last hours."

"Why didn't you say so?" Wrathion asked, Anduin just shrugged.

"I told you he was sick." Dereck said. "If he doesn't want to eat, it's because he's sick."

"Thanks for the observation…" Tess murmured wryly.

"I see your throat is a little sore too," Calia commented once she stopped. "but what you have the most is a high temperature." Wrathion placed his hand on Anduin's forehead.

"Is this a very hot temperature for a human?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Calia replied. "I think it was due to the sudden changes in temperature, now up with the snow, now here, then snow… He also ran under the rain yesterday and it's not like he was wearing proper clothes.

"He also swam through a cold Stormwind canal. But Anduin is always careless." Tess said.

"We should take him back to Arom's Stand." Dereck suggested. "He can't stay here, he has to rest and take something for the temperature."

"You're right," Calia got up. "we have to take him back. We will go directly to the Arom's Stand."

"Can you walk there?" Wrathion asked the young king, but Anduin seemed totally gone. "I guess not." Wrathion pulled out his weapon and looked at Calia. "Can you hold this for me?"

"Sure."

Calia grabbed the weapon and waited for Wrathion to carry Anduin on his back. Anduin felt his head spin a little, he held on tight to the dragon as Wrathion held him. Tess told Anduin to rest his head on Wrathion's shoulder and close his eyes until they reached the town. Anduin did so when they started walking and realized something. The dragon had an elevated temperature by nature and Anduin already had his own high temperature, yet it didn't become suffocating. Wrathion's warmth was quite pleasant and seemed welcoming, Anduin felt such comfort that he relaxed easily. He closed his eyes and hugged Wrathion tight.

He didn't realize that they reached Arom's Stand after a while. Lucille immediately asked what had happened to him and called a local doctor. The young king was taken to the same bed he used the night before right before the doctor arrived. They waited a while, but the diagnosis was brief. There wasn't much to investigate in a common sickness and he prescribed a concoction. Wrathion sat at the foot of the bed while Dereck, Tess, and Calia watched with some concern.

"He has to drink it every nine hours." the doctor said, giving Tess a medium bottle. "If he doesn't skip it, in a few days the temperature will go down."

"Are you sure it's just temperature?" Wrathion asked. "I don't want to think that he got something from the Drust because he was exposed."

"You can be calm, from what you have told me and from what I have seen, it's only temperature. Let him rest and gave him the medicine."

The doctor left the room and all five stayed. Calia took the opportunity to give a note to Wrathion that had just arrived in town. The dragon read it in a few seconds, it was Ebyssian's answer. Before saying anything, he looked at Calia.

"Can you leave us alone for a moment?" Calia looked at him in surprise for a fleeting second, but nodded.

"Sure." she left the room. Tess pointed to the note.

"The tauren?" she asked.

"Yes," Wrathion sighed. "they say they will arrive in Drustvar in two days."

"The plan has changed." Dereck said. "Anduin is sick and cannot come until he recovers."

"What do we do?" Tess asked. "Do we tell them that it's canceled until Anduin recovers or...?"

"No need to cancel," said Wrathion. "we can continue with the mission. Since they won't be around tomorrow yet, we could take Anduin back to Boralus."

"Why?"

"He will be in better hands. We will be out, we won't be able to take care of him and it's not that I have much confidence with the people here. There are people we trust in Boralus and I'm sure your parents will take good care of him. Apart…"

"What?"

"The Drust won't be happy with what we did in the manor, maybe they are going after us. Anduin would be unprotected if we aren't here, he can't fight. I prefer if he stays in Boralus."

"If what we did made them angry," Dereck said. "then they'll go after all Drustvar, not just Anduin."

"I only care about Anduin." Tess raised her eyebrows.

"You're cruel... but it's understandable. What's the plan?"

"Can you send a note to Taelia to come pick us up in the morning?"

"Of course."

"Decided then. When we're in Boralus, we will see if we can take something to fight against them too. We take the rest of the day off."

The couple nodded and they went outside so they could send the note to Taelia. Wrathion stayed looking after Anduin and would offer him help if he needed anything, but the young king fell asleep instantly.

It must have been around five in the morning when Anduin woke up suddenly, the itchy throat and the headache woke him up. He coughed dryly at first and felt somewhat disoriented in the darkness of the room. As he tried to speak, it was a very harsh and painful moan, but a candlelight lit up on the table next to him and he saw Wrathion.

"Anduin?" he asked quietly. The young king saw a jug of water on the table and pointed to it.

"Water..." he said very weakly, almost hoarse. Wrathion filled a glass with water and handed it to him. Anduin drank almost desperately and dropped onto the pillow when he finished.

"Are you okay?" Anduin shook his head slowly, but at least his voice recovered a little.

"What time is it?"

"In a few minutes the sun will rise. Which is a good time for you to take your medicine now that I think about, nine hours have passed already." Wrathion filled the glass previously used by Anduin with a somewhat greenish liquid. Anduin drank it and made a disgusted face.

"It's very bitter..." he said as he left the glass on the table. "You better not get too close to me, I don't want to infect you."

"You infect me?" Wrathion laughed as he sat on the edge of the bed. "You can't infect me with your illnesses as much as I can't infect you with mine, we're incompatible in that sense, we're different races."

"I didn't know." Anduin sighed tiredly. "I feel terrible..."

"It's normal, you have temperature."

"I mean, I've screwed up the mission."

"Oh, light-boy, you don't have any fault for falling ill, it's okay." Anduin just shrugged. "By the way, tomorrow we will take you to Boralus, you will be better there."

"What? And what about what happens here?" Wrathion showed him two folded papers that he held with his fingers.

"I received a note from Ebyssian confirming that they would arrive in two days. In this note," raised one of them. "I have written that you're sick and you won't be able to come, but we continue the mission ourselves. In this other one," he raised the other one. "I wrote him that you're sick and that the mission is canceled until you recover. You decide which one I send."

"Why…?" Anduin didn't understand why Wrathion would cancel everything and frowned. "You should continue with the mission, people are in danger, you shouldn't stop for me."

"Well, then I send him the first one." Wrathion put his hand on the young king's right cheek and caressed him gently. "Sleep, Anduin, sleeping is the best natural medicine you have."

Anduin nodded, his eyelids were heavy and his eyes closed instantly. Wrathion caressed him a few more seconds until he felt he was abusing it. He blew the candle he previously lit and sat down in the chair next to him to continue reading. He had stayed up all night for Anduin and would continue to do so, also, he was finding many interesting things in the book, he would need to go to Boralus and find material to destroy those more complex barriers.

The tauren affair slightly bothered him. The only reason he wrote that cancellation note was because Anduin is the one who connects everyone. Without realizing it, the young king became the most neutral leader and only his presence seemed to maintain normality between them, but without him, that could go wrong. Wrathion already had a bad reputation with them, Tess and Dereck didn't know them quite well… It would be very strange for everyone if Anduin wasn't there, it would probably be the most awkward situation in history. That’s why Wrathion hesitated for hours and wrote that cancellation note.

But Anduin told him to continue and, deep down, he was right, there were quite a lot of people at stake. Wrathion guessed that his selfish side came out because he liked going with Anduin, but now he had to endure a hard time with the tauren for the sake of the mission.

Although he shouldn't think about it, sometimes he missed the times when he just depended on himself. As much as N’Zoth hurt him, at least he didn't have to spend time with strangers and have a hard time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Anduin, you have to take care of yourself! Thank God Wrathion was there to take care of him. If you leave kudos or comments I will appreciate it.  
See you!


	34. Xal’atath’s curse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I have to warn a little about next chapters. At the time I wrote these chapters I had a lot of problems with mental blocks, it took like a month and a half to write them, so you probably notice the chapters a bit off, but of course, things happen that have to be told so I cannot skip this. I guess I must say I hope you don't mind unnecessary information. Sorry for grammar mistakes anyway.

Tess knocked on the door early in the morning the following day. She sent the message to Taelia to pick them up and she replied that she could only do it in the morning since a job came up at noon. Wrathion felt a little sorry, he had to wake Anduin up and he was in a deep sleep with his adorable face as always. The dragon approached the young king to wake him up as gently as he could by touching his shoulder a little.

"Anduin," he called, whispering. "wake up, we have to go." the young king didn't move, it wouldn't be so easy to wake him up from his deep sleep just with words. Wrathion sat down, almost touching him. With one hand, he gently scratched below Anduin's ear and part of his neck. Eventually, the young king began to wake up.

"Hmm?"

"We have to go, Taelia is waiting for us."

Anduin rubbed his eyes slowly with his hands, Wrathion had to resist the urge to hug him for looking so vulnerable. Anduin took a while to prepare, he was too asleep and his body was weighing heavily. Leaning on Wrathion, they both went outside when there was still the morning mist and an exaggerated cold. At least this time, Anduin was dressed properly to resist the cold. Calia did them a small favor by preparing a carriage so that they didn't have to walk, in addition, she would accompany them to the Chandlery Wharf where Taelia was waiting for them. As the monster from the Waycrest manor was liquidated, the north was calmer now, right where the dock was. Anduin took up almost an entire side of the carriage as he was lying down, resting his head on Wrathion's leg. Despite the fact that nothing should happen, they were still alert, although Wrathion told them to relax a little because he didn't notice anything.

"I have to say, I'll be around Boralus all day." Wrathion announced. "I found out certain things that will help me to break those barriers, but I need material." he looked at Calia. "I heard that you have silver weapons."

"Yes," Calia replied. "we used them to counter the Drust."

"More will be needed."

"I can get it without problems." the dragon nodded, gratefully.

"Wrathion," said Tess. "if you stay in Boralus all day, Dereck and I will go back to Drustvar." the dragon narrowed his eyes. "We'll investigate the southeast. We already know what's in the Crimson Forest so it would be nice to look at the unknown part."

"Are you sure?"

"We only need to take an SI:7 tool." Dereck added. "And we will be safe, no worries."

"Anyway, if you see something strange, run."

Both spies nodded, they were going to be cautious no matter how much they got a tool. Wrathion unconsciously caressed Anduin's head as he thought about how he would get what he needed, at least he wouldn't have to worry about the silver weapons. They went down a large path that led to the small dock. It was practically unused nowadays, it was used by pirates the last few months to create problems for the Waycrest house and, once Jaina kicked them out, there was no use of the place because the kidnappings began. Taelia was already there, waiting for several minutes. They could almost say she was impatient, but seeing Anduin half passed out, she worried about him. They said goodbye to Calia temporarily and got on the ship.

The journey was a little awkward for Anduin. It was a ship without a cabin where he could rest, so he was sitting on the deck with his arms around his legs and resting his head on Wrathion's shoulder the whole time, the relaxing heat of the dragon made it a little more bearable, but he was complaining all the time. Taelia said that at least there was a good current to get fast to the interior of Kul Tiras, so they crossed the Krakenbane Cove faster than normal to the Anglepoint Wharf. They left behind Drustvar and its gloomy aura. The currents stopped accelerating the ship, and the arrival to the central water canal of Boralus was much slower. Anduin ended up overwhelmed without being able to lie down and sleep peacefully, the headache was too much and he didn't stop coughing because, every time he breathed, the cold that the water carried passed through his throat quickly and he noticed the irritation he had.

Taelia left them as close to the Proudmoore Keep as she could and wished Anduin a fast recovery before saying goodbye. Wrathion continued to carry the young king until they arrived at the Keep. Jaina saw them at the doors, she had an urgency, but stopped when she saw them. She asked for Anduin as soon as she saw him, her face changed to sadness upon hearing what had happened and she commented that he had very bad luck. Unfortunately, Jaina couldn't keep an eye on him, she had to leave for the Stormsong Valley by urgent request. Wrathion wasn't at all sure that Jaina was concerned that Anduin was ill, or that she took pity on him, rather she seemed disappointed that he would no longer help in Drustvar.

Wrathion took the young king to his room while Tess would notify her parents that they were here and Dereck would go to the small SI:7 control center. Just after helping Anduin to get into bed with a cold towel covering the pillow, Genn and Mia came in, worried. It didn't take long for Mia to caress Anduin's head.

"Oh, poor boy!" said the queen of Gilneas. "Such bad luck you have had..."

"For being careless." Tess clarified.

"I want to sleep..." Anduin murmured.

"Yes," Wrathion said. "let him sleep." the dragon left the medicine on the table and looked at Mia. "He has to drink that every nine hours, at lunchtime he should drink it. I won't be here so…"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure."

They let Anduin sleep peacefully. He was in good hands now so they could focus on other things. Wrathion accompanied Tess to meet Dereck. The SI:7 control center was already on the move so they dodged some agents and looked for Dereck. They saw him with Gnomic-made glasses in hand and talking to a night elf. As soon as he noticed the others, Dereck approached them almost happily.

"I have good and bad news." he started.

"Enlighten me, the good one first." Tess said.

"The good thing is that I have the glasses," he said while showing the ones he had. "The bad one is that there are only these pairs now."

"What? How's that?"

"They have them in use, but I think we only need one." Wrathion took the glasses, they were made of metal and the lenses were red. He put them on to test.

"Why do you want to see the world in red?" he asked.

"It's for seeing invisible things," Dereck explained. "more or less. When you see something invisible, it's as if you saw many ants concentrated in that place, we will test if it works with those monsters. It can also detect heat levels or an exaggerated magic source."

"Well," Wrathion handed them back to him. "maybe it works. But be very careful."

"Always."

Tess pointed out that they would be in the forest between Fallhaven and Fletcher’s hollow looking for signs in caves, trees or abandoned houses. Besides, the dragon gave them the extra task of getting alchemical fire, a material that he would use against barriers. They agreed to send each other notes at the end of the day to confirm what they got and to meet with the tauren. They would have a whole day to search while Wrathion gathered certain material.

The dragon made his way to the Stormsong Monastery after saying goodbye, he needed to ask Leo for a favor. The Tidesages had an exclusive library for them and they never shared knowledge, it was logical to think that they could have some useful book or scroll about the Drust.

It was easy to locate Leo, his magic power wasn't hidden at all and his childlike scent stood out over the adults. The little boy ran towards him as soon as he saw him, happy and forgetting that he was talking to someone else.

"How are you, soon to be the best Tidesage?" Wrathion said at first. Leo gave him a hug.

"I'm fine!"

"Are you doing something important now?"

"I'm on a break, but I can't show you anything new that I've learned."

"Well, another day then. Today I need a favor."

"A favor just as important as the one Anduin asked me?"

"More or less. About that, you haven't told anyone, have you?"

"My lips are sealed!" Leo made a cross with his fingers on his lips.

"I hope so, you would hurt me if someone knows." Leo shook his head. "Do you know if the Tidesages have information about the Drust in the library?" the little boy cocked his head slightly.

"I think there is a scroll that talks about them, I think so... Why?"

"They are behind the kidnappings in Drustvar and we intend to end them, but I need a little extra information. Do you think you could temporarily give it to me?" Leo hesitated.

"I would have no problem taking it for you but... I have a problem."

"If it's something prohibited, I assure you that they won't discover it."

"It's not that. You said it's only temporary, but for how long?"

"Two days maybe?"

"It's that between today and tomorrow I will have to return to the Stormsong Valley." Wrathion blinked.

"Why?"

"There are certain problems and we're still recovering from the battle that took place, they need my presence, I will have to leave the lessons temporarily."

"Is what is happening very serious?"

"I hope not, they haven't told me all the details except that they saw members of the Horde. It's something they told me this morning."

"I understand, but I really need the information. If they find it's missing I'll say I stole it, I won't get you in trouble."

"But you... No, I trust you, I'll find you the scroll. Wait here!"

Before he said anything, Leo had already run away. He wasn't sure if Leo really accepted because he trusts him so much or that he didn't mind going against the rules because he had certain privileges. Wrathion wasn't going to complain anyway, he needed it. Leo returned with a small, rolled scroll, and handed it to Wrathion without hesitation.

"Thanks, Leo."

"You're welcome, if I don't leave today, will you return it to me tomorrow?"

"No problem... By the way, do you know of any place where I can get rowan wood?"

"Well..." Leo mused. "In a normal market around here I think you won't find it. But you can try in Freehold, you can find everything in there even if it's something... illegal."

"Right, the city outside the laws. I don't mind it, thanks for everything."

"You're welcome!"

Wrathion put the scroll in his waist bag, he would check it out later. He stayed a few minutes talking to Leo until the little boy had to leave. Wrathion transformed into a dragon and flew south. He had heard some things about Freehold, it was infested with pirates paid by the Ashvane once, but since it was discovered, only the locals remained. The city was still a place of crime and black market, many nobles were sometimes ashamed to admit that they illegally acquired money from there, but that was normal on all continents. Wrathion only had in mind to get rowan wood there because in Kul Tiras it didn't grow. In the book Lucille lent him, it was written that rowan wood could be used as a shield against Drust magic, he could use it to physically protect himself when breaking barriers and, since the main weapon was silver, he would also have an offensive. He only needed the alchemical fire to be sure, but he knew that an alchemist who lived in Drustvar could do it and asked Tess and Dereck to get it, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Wrathion returned to his human form before entering Freehold, it was safer. The city was as chaotic as imagined. In its entirety it was full of no name pirates and scammers in a totally dirty and neglected environment. Nobody looked at him frowning as it used to happen, but it was only because they were always in a constant fight because of alcohol.

Wrathion asked several merchants, but wasn't very lucky finding what he needed. There was only one merchant with an eye patch confirming that only one should have such wood. Unfortunately for him, the man who could give him such a thing was one of the biggest merchants in Freehold now since a man called Harlan died. As Wrathion approached the most exclusive area of the city, they did look at him with a frown. Although he was used to it, he couldn't help but feel some discomfort. After crossing a bridge, he found quite a few bodyguards resting and others kicking clients out.

Some robust men wanted to stop him before approaching the merchant, but Wrathion showed them a whole bag of gold and they let him through. The merchant was eating, had more rings than fingers and wore quite expensive clothes at first glance. He wasn't a graceful man, he looked like someone who had been drunk every day of his life. One of the bodyguards whispered in his ear about Wrathion's arrival, and the merchant looked at him. He gestured for him to come closer, but he didn't stop eating.

"What are you looking for?" asked the man without looking at him.

"Rowan wood." Wrathion replied, calmly.

"How much?"

"All I can afford." the man threw the chicken bone he was nibbling to his plate and belched.

"And will you have all the necessary gold?" Wrathion tossed the gold bag onto the table.

"Everything I can buy with that." the man meticulously inspected the bag.

"With this you can have almost all the wood... are you a noble?"

"Do I look like one?"

"No, but you arouse a certain curiosity... What do you want wood for?"

"I thought that your thing was buying and selling, what difference does it make knowing my intentions?"

"What insolence for someone who isn't from Kul Tiras, I also like to traffic information. I begin to think that the best thing would be not to sell it, you have an unconventional look."

"I'm paying you more than I should, why would you deny me?"

"Protection. You don't seem human, so what are you?"

"I would say it's a dragon." said a bodyguard. "Look at his eyes, it's weird."

"Yes, I'm also realizing it." said the man trying to play smart.

"What difference does it make?" Wrathion replied. The merchant seemed to light up with an idea.

"Fight one of my boys!" Wrathion frowned. "I've never seen a dragon fight, do you want merchandise? Fight, lizard!"

Wrathion felt his eyebrow tremble. That was a very big insult to a dragon, a dragon that couldn't fly was a lizard, as if it was degraded to a very inferior being, something you should never say to a dragon. Wrathion accepted the challenge if the situation ended. The merchant chose his best man, a fairly tall and muscular Kultiran whom everyone cheered fervently. He tried to brag in front of Wrathion about how strong he was, but the dragon only looked at him with complete indifference. Everyone cheered up the fight with encouraging shouts. Both fighters clashed their fists and a pirate whistled for them to start fighting. Before the man did anything, Wrathion punched the man's face with his right fist using only half his force, the poor man had his teeth jump out, followed by a stream of blood, and fell to the ground unconscious. Everyone fell silent almost motionless when Wrathion looked at the merchant.

"Next?" he asked, impatiently. The merchant raised his hands.

"Okay, I get it, I don't want any problems, you're dangerous. Take that one away. " he pointed to the still fallen man.

"Are you going to give me what I want?"

"Of course!" he snapped his fingers and several men went to look for the wood.

"Do you still want all the gold?"

"Want? Me? This is a gift from the house so you can see that I have no problem with dragons that could kill me with a punch."

Wrathion sighed, that man could pass for goblin stereotype perfectly. The men he sent returned with a huge bag full of wood. The dragon left some coins anyway, just to feel a little better. Carrying the wood on his back, he left Freehold and its stinking scent as fast as he could. It was too nauseating for his nose and he hoped he would never return. When he moved away from the city a little, between the mountains, he returned to his dragon form. He grabbed the bag with a claw and flew off. The sky was quite clear, but he had spent a long time walking through that city, something he didn't count on.

He thought that he should organize this material, he wouldn't take everything to Drustvar, because the book indicated that it wasn't necessary to be completely covered in wood to protect himself. He also had to wait for a response from Ebyssian and some notification from Tess and Dereck on the places that they were investigating. It would take a little time to read the scroll Leo gave him and memorize all the information. It wouldn't be a light day.

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There was someone who deserted from Gorak Tul. Wrathion was surprised when he read the scroll, even though it was only a few lines of text. A druid from the tribe didn't agree with either the conflict or Gorak Tul's methods of defending themselves, so he escaped from the tribe with a few druids. Another relevant thing is that, although the Drust were death spirits, Gorak Tul wasn't. In the last crusade, all were massacred except Gorak Tul, who ended up fleeing. From the beginning, Wrathion was intrigued by how he could continue to have a connection with nature if he was dead, but that explained everything. If he was alive, he could be killed. Still, it was a good idea to try to find out more about the defector and if he was still alive.

He received the two most anticipated notes. One was from Tess explaining that they found absolutely nothing in the forest, not even enemies, which was very strange, and they were no longer sure where to look. The good news is that they got the alchemical fire and asked where they should go tomorrow to meet the tauren.

The other note was from Ebyssian saying he was sorry about Anduin and that they would go, around noon, to an area near Fletcher’s hollow where they had a small camp.

Wrathion wrote back to Tess to tell her where they should meet tomorrow. Since they would be close to each other, it would be easy for the dragon to locate another dragon on its own flight.

He sent the notes when it was almost time for dinner and Wrathion didn't know what to do. He still didn't want to go to Drustvar because he had to learn the scroll by memory and Leo told him that he would go to the Stormsong Valley tomorrow, Wrathion had to return the scroll to him then. He went to his room for a moment to prepare some wood to transport, then he met Genn and Mia. Normally in the kitchens everyone was always talking while they ate, but this time it was all too quiet. Wrathion sat on the table while talking to Genn.

"It seems that maybe Sylvanas is doing something again." Wrathion said. "I don't think they're going to Stormsong for tourism." Genn stopped before taking the food to his mouth.

"The valley is the region that provides food, it's always good to spread famine among enemies and the leader is still a child.”

"Even so I thought it was better to say it, in case something happens..."

"I'll keep an eye on it." Mia approached the table with food for her.

"Wrathion, get off the table, use a chair." she said almost motherly. Wrathion obeyed her.

"And did you get the material you were looking for?" Genn asked.

"Yes, in Freehold, but I had to break someone's nose."

"Have you built a reputation with pirates?"

"It looks like I did."

"It's not something I recommend."

"This is very empty without the group." the dragon commented trying to change the subject. Genn laughed a little.

"Well, I have my daughter and son-in-law in another area and Anduin is sick. They will make noise when they return."

"Anduin has been asleep all day?"

"Of all the times I went to see him, he was only asleep once." Mia said. "And by the way, it's time for him to drink the medicine."

"I go, see you."

Both Gilneans said goodbye to the dragon. Wrathion strode up the stairs three at a time until he reached Anduin's room. When he was about to open the door, he realized it was locked with a latch and was unable to enter. Maybe he should have walked through the balcony like he used to, but he knocked on the door first. He didn't hear anything coming from the room and thought that Anduin was sound asleep, however, after a few seconds, the door opened. Anduin looked somewhat asleep, but was surprised to see the dragon.

"Wrathion?"

"I came to see how you are."

"I thought you would have already gone to Drustvar. Come in."

Anduin let him in as he went back to bed  staggering and blowing out all the candles except one . Wrathion wanted to say something as he entered, but stopped almost paralyzed as soon as he set foot inside. Since the balcony was closed, the whole room smelled exaggeratedly like Anduin. It was too much for Wrathion and the temptation to jump on top of Anduin became almost unbearable. The dragon walked to the balcony and opened wide in an attempt to calm down.

"You should ventilate a little..." Wrathion commented. Anduin got into bed and dropped his head.

"Sorry if it smells bad, I didn't get off my bed all day." bad wasn't the adjective that Wrathion would have used.

"Do you feel better?"

"Not much, but I feel more rested." Wrathion took a deep breath, he could control himself. He sat down on the floor next to the bed. "Did Tess and Dereck return to Drustvar?"

"Yes, they have investigated the forest around Fallhaven, but have found nothing. And I was able to arrange the meeting between everyone."

"That's nice." Anduin cocked his head slightly. "Even if I'm not there, don't be aggressive. I know it won't be a very comfortable meeting because you don't know each other too well. But please... don't destroy anything."

"Okay, I'll behave as good as you." he joked. Anduin smiled. "In the note that Ebyssian sent me, the three of them wish you a fast recovery and that it's a pity you won't come."

"I'll wear proper clothes next time." Wrathion sighed slowly and took the medicine.

"You have to drink this." Anduin put on a sad expression, but drank anyway. When he finished, he made the same disgusted face as the last time. "Did you sleep a lot today?"

"In the morning and a short nap in the afternoon. I've been quite bored and hardly talked to anyone. Can you stay for a bit?"

"But your face is saying you’ll fall asleep at any time."

"Stay. Please." that was. It was those kinds of pleas that he couldn't resist.

"I don't know what else to tell you."

"You could read me the book that Lucille lent you." Wrathion laughed.

"Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?" Anduin smiled in an almost shy way.

"I just want to stop being alone here."

Wrathion narrowed his eyes at him and Anduin raised his eyeb rows expectantly.  The dragon gestured for him to move a little and Anduin made space in bed for Wrathion to lie down with him. Wrathion pulled out the book. Although he had already read it, he had no problem going through it again. But as soon as he settled into the pillow, Anduin did something that the dragon didn't expect at all. The young king cuddled next to him, leaving his head on  the dragon's right shoulder as he placed his hand on his chest.  Wrathion was sure that he had never before been as nervous as now , he felt his heart go faster and hid it by turning the pages of the book quickly. 

"In the end did you find how to counteract the Drust magic?" Anduin asked suddenly.

"Yes." Wrathion cleared his throat. "There are certain objects that work well against his magic like rowan wood, alchemical fire or silver."

"And why do they have these weak points?"

"From what I have read... It's not a perfect magic."

"What do you mean?"

"I discovered that Gorak Tul isn't truly dead. The entire tribe was eliminated except him. Apparently he made a deal with some being from the Shadowlands to be able to use death-related magic, like if he was a necromancer, but that doesn't give him full access to that power."

"I don't think I'm following you."

"It happens the same with the power of the Void. You can't use it entirely, but the Ren’dorei can because they are one with the Void. The same goes for death, if you are a being like Bwonsamdi or Eyir you can use that power in its entirety. But someone like Gorak Tul can't, he isn't even dead to begin with, so he has these weak points."

"I think I understand better."

"I don't think you’re awake enough to assimilate this well now."

"Well, read me for a while then."

Wrathion sighed lightly and began to read. It was something Anduin sought on purpose, he wanted to feel Wrathion’s comforting warmth again, he could feel very calm next to him. Wrathion's voice also relaxed him, it was deep when he read calmly and he would end up asleep peacefully in no time.

The dragon didn't stop reading, doing it out loud helped him memorize more effectively. He had read almost all the book and the hours passed without realizing it.

"'The Drust are resurrected beings, they do not become corporeal easily since they require time and energy, it is a good time to attack with silver weapons, a material to which they are very sensitive, just as death itself.'" Wrathion blinked. "Sensitive just as death itself... I think I've heard that before... but I don't know where it was from."

Wrathion tried to force his memory, but couldn't remember where he heard something like that. Glancing at Anduin, he saw that the young king had fallen fast asleep. The dragon closed the book and put it on the ground. He was fascinated to see Anduin's slow breathing, how could someone sleep so peacefully without worry? Wrathion doesn't allow himself to sleep, he avoided it whenever he could, he could never find such a peaceful sleep. But when he saw Anduin like this, his calm affected him. Using his magic, Wrathion extinguished the remaining candle and left the room in darkness. He settled without disturbing Anduin's sleep and wrapped his arms around him protectively. Although they had slept in the same bed before, he was never able to hug him like that. The scent made him close his eyes and lose himself in the young king as he rested his cheek on Anduin's head. Maybe for once, he could sleep soundly.

_Look for it... you have to find it... you have to eliminate it..._

Wrathion woke up with a little spasm. Someone tried to communicate with him through dreams, the same thing happened yesterday. He wouldn't worry if he knew who it was, the voice was totally distorted. He didn't know if it was her or N’Zoth, and if it was the old god, he didn't want to do what he wanted. But he also didn't know who he was supposed to eliminate. From the spasm he had, he awakened Anduin as well. The young king rubbed an eye with his hand.

"What happened?" Anduin asked, very sleepy.

"Sorry." he apologized in a low voice. "I woke up badly."

"A nightmare?"

"I wish." Anduin tried to frown. "It doesn't matter, don't mind me. The sun has risen, but keep sleeping. I think I'll go to Drustvar."

"Fine. Be careful, okay?"

"Everything is under control. Remember to drink your medicine."

Although Wrathion said everything would be fine, he wasn't quite sure. If it was she who spoke to him in the dream, there was no problem. But if it was N’Zoth, he had to worry a lot, since he began to suspect that the one who was told to find and eliminate was Gorak Tul himself.

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Wrathion considered that he had arrived too early, even if he had to return a certain scroll to Leo and take all the wood before leaving. He arrived at the Wayward Thicket, the southern part of the big forest, before crossing the bridge that led to Fletcher’s hollow. But he didn't see anyone, neither the humans nor tauren. The dragon was walking nervously among the trees near the water when he detected Ebyssian. Wrathion walked in the direction of the magic, a little inside the forest, when he finally sighted them. He hid behind a tree to check if Ebyssian could sense his presence, something he could see in a few seconds when the old dragon looked at him and raised a hand to greet him slowly. Baine and Mayla stopped and became aware of Wrathion's presence at last. They approached in silence, not knowing what to say. Wrathion forced himself to break the ice first.

"How was the trip?" Wrathion asked.

"Good." Baine replied. "Without much news."

"Tess and Dereck will come now, we just have to wait for them and we will get going." as soon as he said that, an extremely uncomfortable silence fell. Wrathion was about to run away.

"How is Anduin?" Baine wanted to know.

"In bed, but he will get well right away, he wants to come soon."

"Did it happen suddenly?"

"He swam in cold waters and ran under the rain with sudden temperature changes, I suppose for a human it's a lot, especially if he isn't wearing proper clothes."

"It's a lot for most races."

Wrathion heard a nearby hiss, a human one to get attention. The dragon looked around until he saw Dereck behind a tree gesturing for him to come closer. Wrathion only frowned as he walked towards him.

"What are you doing?" asked the dragon.

"We have a problem." Dereck looked a little scared. "I'm going to emphasize, we have a big problem." Dereck stretched out his arms as much as he could. "Sorry!"

"What happened? The tauren are here, don't tell me that you have complicated it."

"This has been out of our plans, totally unforeseen. And it's better that they hide for a moment."

"Can you tell me what the hell is going on?" Wrathion said, impatiently.

"It's just that... Tess and I were on our way when we discovered that... we have been followed." Wrathion blinked.

"What? Who?" Dereck hesitated slightly.

"Calia."

"WHAT?" she was probably the last person he thought of.

"She said we were acting weird when we said to go alone, but we didn't expect her to follow us. By the time we realized it we had already arrived here."

"Are you both special spies of the SI:7 and none of you realize when someone follows you?"

"We were much more focused on making sure something didn't come out of the forest to eat us. Calia knew how to hide well, I admit that." Wrathion ran his hand across his face.

"Why does this have to happen? She can't see the tauren. Where is she, by the way?"

"Tess is with her near the bridge waiting for me to find you and solve it, but this surpasses me a little. I don't know what to do." Wrathion snorted and looked at the tauren, he should speak to Calia as soon as possible. It was Ebyssian who approached him this time.

"Is there a problem?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes, these two idiotshave been followed despite being experienced spies." Wrathion pointed at Dereck without looking at him. "Let's say there’s an intruder."

"Someone dangerous?" Baine asked from behind.

"A priestess of Light who helped us around the area, she was intrigued by what the two idiots were doing."

"Is she from the Alliance?"

"No," Dereck replied. "Calia is from the church, she has nothing to do with the Alliance."

"Calia Menethil?" Mayla asked curiously.

"The same."

"Wait here," said Wrathion. "I'll talk to her and we will leave."

Wrathion walked quickly, he was tired of the bad news and he wanted to finish all this as soon as possible and go back to Anduin, the only one with whom he could be calm. Dereck followed him to the bridge, where, as he said, Tess and Calia were. Tess looked at Wrathion as if she were in the worst possible trouble and shook her head. Calia seemed calm enough and waved at the dragon.

"Good Morning." she said kindly.

"Why did you decide to follow them?" the dragon asked directly.

"Well, yesterday we were investigating together and suddenly this morning they didn't want to, even Lucille was surprised."

"Why should it be strange that they want to go alone?"

"For security. And it's weird that they don't want me to go with them if they were going just to meet you, don't you think? It makes me think that you are hiding something serious and relevant."

"It's not about that…"

"Then explain it to me."

Wrathion sighed, she wasn't going to let it pass. The radical intrusive thought of killing her crossed Wrathion’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it, he shouldn't even think about it. But she couldn't discover that alliance they had with the tauren. If she did and say it to someone, it would be the end.

"Calia?" they all looked back and something inside Wrathion stopped when he saw Mayla.

"Mayla?" Calia took a few steps towards her, pleased. "What are you doing around here?"

"I didn't know that you were their contact, we haven’t seen each other since Silithus."

"Since we use the weapons to eliminate the corruption, yes. But why are you here?"

"We have come to help." Mayla pointed to Baine and Ebyssian. Calia looked puzzled at everyone.

"Are you working together?"

"Yes, that's why Wrathion wanted you to leave, in case you gave us away."

"Anduin is involved too?"

"He brought us together." Calia smiled.

"Typical of him, I'm not surprised. It is like when he met Sylvanas to reunite the families of Lordaeron. He was always open to alliances even in times of war."

"And how did you end up here? You're not really from the Alliance, I don't know why you are involved."

"Well, the church is very busy with healing the world and reviving everyone's morale. A little research I did on the Drust brought me here. I met Lucille and wanted to help her since a touch of Light couldn't hurt this land, how about you? Aside from Anduin gathering you, why help against the Drust?"

"The short version is that Gorak Tul can tell us something about the being who manipulates Sylvanas and could be allied with the old god N’Zoth." Calia blinked quickly and looked at Wrathion.

"Was it so difficult to say that?" the dragon was still in his semi-shock state. "And what does a mythological old god have to do with it?"

"Easy, I can explain."

Mayla started to do short summaries to Calia about the situation of N’Zoth and Sylvanas as if it was a totally casual conversation with a complicity that good friends had. Ebyssian told the others that he knew they were friends from the time they were for Silithus. When it was concluded that the power of the artifact weapons was capable of removing corruption from Sargeras' sword, Mayla helped the hunters of the Trueshot lodge because they were in Highmountain and knew each other well enough. On the other hand, Calia was responsible for transporting the artifact weapons from the Netherlight Temple and that's why they met.

Wrathion found Calia's behavior curious. Although she was surprised by this alliance they had, she didn't say anything bad about it, it was normal and fine to her that they worked together even if she knew the war between factions.

She reminded him a little of Anduin, they had that same open mind and Wrathion was surprised because he hadn't seen such things in other Light users, they always tended to be somewhat radical. But he supposed that those who really were pure Light would be like Anduin and Calia, people open to any cooperation and not war.

Once Calia and Mayla stopped talking, they returned to the group. Calia laughed a little before speaking.

"Incredible story that Mayla just told me. If you had told me before, it would have been easier. Now I understand some things that were weird before."

"It's just that..." Tess began. "I think you can imagine why we didn't say it."

"Yes, this type of pacts, with the current times, they would kill you for treason. It is normal that you want to keep it a secret. But I would never say anything, even less when you are behind a common good."

"I don't think it's as simple as saying..."

"And how do you want me to do it?" Tess looked at everyone expecting someone to say something, but there was only silence.

"Signing with blood?" Calia took out a dagger and brought it to her hand, Tess got up to stop her. "It was a joke! Just kidding!"

"And what do you think?" Dereck asked Wrathion, he just sighed.

"I'm still processing all this..."

"But we have to do something."

"Do what? Do we kill her for discovering this? Or do we let her come?"

"You don't have to be radical." Baine said. "Can we trust her?" asked to Mayla.

"Calia is a good person, I can assure you, I don't think she will say anything."

"I don't understand very well the N’Zoth thing." Calia acknowledged. "Five minutes ago I thought it was a legend, but I will keep the secret." Wrathion approached Calia, facing her.

"If I find out that you say something... Then I will kill you, because you would screw us a lot."

It was the only thing he could do now, he couldn't kick Calia out of there, to his disgrace. Wrathion had no choice but to take her with them for now, he could keep an eye on her and see if she really was worthy. Tess pulled out a map of Drustvar and pointed out a few things for the tauren. She explained to them that the monster from the north was killed in the Waycrest manor and that the other was in the Crimson Forest. They needed to check the entire southeast for any anomaly, but in the forest there was no luck. Baine then pointed to a certain snowy area west of Fletcher’s hollow. He commented that some Horde soldiers have disappeared in that area in recent weeks and those who have survived unscathed spoke of the area as cursed, that they saw shadows and heard voices in the air.

"It's called Gol Koval... Didn't the Crimson Forest tree have a similar name?" Tess asked.

"Gol Inath." Calia confirmed.

"Did you look out there?" Wrathion asked them.

"No." Dereck answered. "As we said that the forests seemed to be the focus, we didn't approach that area... Maybe we should."

"Let's take a look at it."

It wasn't necessary to cross the bridge to the nearby town, there was a path just next to them that led to Gol Koval. During the way, Wrathion distributed the rowan wood to everyone, especially to cover their arms, and Dereck gave him the alchemical fire they got. Mayla, Dereck and Tess kept explaining to Calia about N’Zoth or what happened between all of them so that this small alliance happened. Calia understood everything quite well, even the alliance seemed correct to her. The idea that both factions went to war after what happened with the Burning Legion was despicable to her, so she was glad about that little 'rebellion' that they were doing.

The snowy area of Gol Koval was Drust ruins, right at the foot of the mountain. Dereck was the one wearing the SI:7 glasses to see anything that was hidden, so he went ahead when he saw something strange. There was a cave away from the ruins that he began to point to. Only when they got closer, both dragons could notice the magic. Wrathion approached first to look, the cave was protected by a Drust barrier, but it was much more complex and sophisticated compared to the one he saw in the manor.

"Did you say you broke one of these barriers?" Ebyssian asked as he inspected as well.

"Yes, but this is more complex."

"Is there a special way to break it?"

"From what I read, it's kind of like turning gears the right way, like solving a puzzle, at least with complex barriers. Wood will protect us from physical damage and alchemical fire helps to break it sooner, but you have to do it well."

"And mental damage?"

"It shouldn't with this type of barrier. Let me look a moment before anything else."

Wrathion used his magic power to visualize the structure of the barrier and was quickly able to see its small weak points. It was more complex than the one at the manor, but not as complex as the one in the Crimson Forest, and that eased him a bit. Wrathion just had to focus and do it properly, though he was beginning to think that if he could see the weak spots well, he could only use brute force.

"How did you say you met?" Tess asked Mayla and Calia.

"In the transport of weapons to Silithus." Mayla replied. "I helped the hunters and Calia the priests. We were the first to arrive so there was time to get to know each other. I had to leave before they began to eliminate the corruption of the sword."

"Why?"

"Oh, it was in those days when Baine arranged gatherings for us to join the Horde."

"We said to see each other another time." Calia said with a somewhat sad look. "In the end we never did it."

"You know, everything started to get complicated and our union was slow. By the way, did the same thing happen to you as the hunters of the Trueshot lodge?"

"You mean that many weapons were destroyed? Yes."

"The weapons were destroyed? But they were legendary." Dereck said, confused.

"Well, they harbored a big power, but as soon as it was released to eliminate corruption, it was lost forever." Calia explained. "Some were left totally useless, others disintegrated to dust."

"The hunters told me that only Thas’dorah was saved, and it was quite broken." Mayla added. "The other two they had were broken forever."

"We had both staffs left, although somewhat cracked. But Xal’atath disintegrated as soon as all power was extracted, it no longer exists."

"Well, it's a shame to lose all these legendary weapons." Tess commented.

"Why did you stop?" Ebyssian asked Wrathion. The others looked at him, it was true that he had stopped everything he was doing. The dragon turned and looked at Calia with some uncertainty.

"You... had Xal’atath?"

"Yes, we did." Wrathion seemed surprised and disappointed at the same time, he dropped to the ground.

"You gotta be kidding me..." the dragon put his hands to his head and sighed as if trying to calm down. "After all this time... And it turns out that you had it."

"What about Xal’atath?"

"You don't even know what it is?"

"It was imbued with Void powers and whispered sometimes."

"Yeah, and don't you think it's weird that a dagger can whisper things directly to your mind?"

"It was just a dagger."

"From the Black Empire!" Ebyssian looked at him with some alarm.

"The civilization of the old gods?" the old dragon frowned. "Does it really come from there?"

"Where do you think it comes from if not?" Wrathion rubbed his eyes. "All this time I have been wondering, how the hell did N’Zoth manage to curse the Azerite? You need to physically insert it to do something like this, how could he infect it if he was locked up? And it turns out it was your fault."

"Our fault?" Calia asked.

"Why did you use Xal’atath to seal the corruption? Why…?" Wrathion had to shut up and scratch his head. "Xal’atath did the dirty work for N’Zoth, the Azerite mind trick was started by the dagger… Magni was there?" Calia hesitated.

"I think he was, but I didn't meet him."

"And he allowed it?"

"I don't know, it wasn't there during the whole process. Some were able to do it alone without help." Wrathion frowned. If Magni didn't supervise everything, Xal’atath could trick someone into doing it on their own.

"I believed that in the Black Empire they were all enemies to each other." Ebyssian said.

"Not if there is a common goal. When the titans came they stopped fighting each other to defeat them. Eventually they tried to do favors between them to break free, they would do anything... N’Zoth must have made a deal with Xal’atath, something that would help him break free."

"But how could we know something like that?" Calia said. Wrathion only frowned.

"Call me crazy, but I wouldn't use a dagger that mentally whispers unpleasant things to me." Wrathion shook his head. "And I was having headaches trying to think where she could be, and in the end, you had her and used her, so N’Zoth began to destroy the planet. Great."

There was a rather awkward silence. Wrathion didn't intend to put all the blame on Calia, he knew it wasn't just her, it was a group of people who didn't know what they were really doing. But the whole thing got into his head all at once and now he couldn't stop thinking about it.

'Find Xal'atath, probably by now the dagger will have made some deal. You have to find her before she does something dangerous and maybe we can make her talk.'

Those were the words she said to him a year ago, and Wrathion tried to find the dagger with all the means at his disposal. He had no luck locating the dagger in all that time and it was something that really put him off. He thought she was lost somewhere buried or actually destroyed. Now discovering that she had been in the possession of people who didn't even know what they were holding and used her without conscience ended up enraging him. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt, he felt a small tremor in his left hand, something that hadn't happened in a while.

It was anger his bigger emotion. It was anger that pushed him to act on many occasions. So he accumulated magic and stamped it against the barrier without thinking. Wrathion felt his hands lightly burn with magic, but the wood was shielding him. The structure of the barrier was destabilized by the impact of magic, but resisted, Wrathion had to channel the magic to weak points. Ebyssian intervened without saying anything, noticing that Wrathion was faltering. He used alchemical fire and the barrier reacted, Wrathion felt it as if it were falling apart. Along with Ebyssian's magic, both dragons were able to break the barrier into a thousand pieces. It was like seeing a very fine bluish crystal fall at his feet, it turned into simple smoke and disappeared. Wrathion fell to his knees and abruptly removed the protective wood, it had completely cracked. His hands were almost raw because of the burn from the barrier and he felt an intense tingling in both palms.

Soon everyone forgot the revelation they just discovered. A deep roar emerged from inside the cave, one similar to what dragons did when they just woke up because something had bothered them. It's in those moments when you know that you should run away because you angered the beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I try to think like I'm the reader and ask myself questions like: Does Xal’atath appear here? So this detail occurred to me. In BFA you find the dagger and it tells you to kill things to feed it, and as your characters it's half stupid you do it (seriously, what a stupid quest). But hey, if someone wondered it, which I doubt very much, now you already know what "role" Xal’atath has here, a pact with N'Zoth to curse the Azerite.  
At least Wrathion and Anduin slept cuddling.
> 
> Until next time.


	35. Quid pro quo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, another chapter. The title comes from Latin and means "one thing for another", an exchange, basically... it refers to something that happens in this chapter. This chapter took about a month to write at the time because I had many mental blocks, and hell, it's not like it's an important chapter anyway.  
I hope you enjoy anyway. Sorry for grammar mistakes I think there are a lot in this one.

Anduin only slept a few more hours after Wrathion left. When he got up, he decided to take a cold and quick shower to remove the sweat odor and continue resting. He had to admit that despite the very bad taste of the medicine, it was quite good. Although he still had discomfort, his head stopped burning excessively and he could think more clearly. Anduin put on a white T-shirt and black pants and let his hair down. He went back to bed and placed the pillow on the headboard while taking his medicine. There was nothing else he could do, but reading letters became his bigger entertainment. A pleasant air entered through the balcony when Anduin read a letter from Tyrande. Apparently her people had already settled well on the land and the draenei refugees were well integrated, but in low spirits. There were a number of things that her people weren't too used to, such as the rural home or the field work, but at least there were no complaints about it. Anduin was very happy for them, after the hell they went through maybe they could recover. Some heavy knocks on the door scared him.

"It's open." Anduin announced. He was pleasantly surprised to see Jaina enter.

"Good morning, I came to see how you are since yesterday I had to leave." Anduin decided to sit on the bed.

"It's okay. I'm slightly better, but the temperature lasts." Jaina sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her fingers.

"Did it happen suddenly?"

"Suddenly, suddenly... no. Running under the rain and temperature changes in Drustvar did the job. Oh, and also not wearing warm clothes or changing wet clothes fast." Jaina sighed.

"We're human, Anduin, you can't be so careless."

"I know, it won't happen again. Did you leave because there was a serious looting?"

"Not quite. I went to the Stormsong Valley because Horde groups attacked the farms, but it wasn't like the silly looting they usually do."

"Why is it different?"

"They're looking for something." Anduin frowned. "We haven't been able to capture any so we don't know at the moment. At first we thought they were attacking farms because Stormsong provides food, so if you want to win a war..."

"Make them starve... But it wasn't that in the end, was it?"

"The only witness explained that they asked a lot of questions but... he had a basic education so he didn't understand much about the subject unfortunately. He just said they asked a lot about Leo or the Tidesage."

"I don't like that too much..."

"We will closely monitor the valley." Jaina rubbed an eye. "What about Drustvar? Did you find out something?"

"Oh, we found out that it was indeed the Drust. They kidnap people at night using monsters that camouflage themselves. We defeated one in the manor and destroyed the portal where it came from."

"Why are they kidnapping people?"

"I think Gorak Tul makes an army. We found a missing person in the process of transformation, she still had her human flesh and attacked us."

"Army..." Jaina remained deeply thoughtful. "It must have hurt him to lose the coven."

"If there's another reason, it's unknown for now. We don't know how to find Gorak Tul though."

"Maybe you could ask Ulfar. He's a druid who lives in Drustvar and is very close to animals. He betrayed Gorak Tul long ago."

"Seriously? I should tell Wrathion to see if he can find him."

"Have you let the dragon investigate for you?" the magician asked, looking askance.

"He's with Tess and Dereck, Calia is helping too. And everyone is good at investigating, don't make that face."

"This is too concerning, especially for you."

"You're only concerned about Wrathion, when will you stop being so hostile to him? It's already more than proven that he's not a bad person."

"Are you sure? And that's not the reason."

"What excuse will you use now?" Jaina narrowed her eyes.

"I have investigated him and I didn't like what I saw at all." Anduin frowned. "He has a fairly long murder history, I don't like someone like that be by your side, you understand?"

"I understand, but... I can't let him go, I need him because he knows very well everything that happens nowadays and he's my friend." Jaina frowned, but suddenly looked at him piously.

"You don't know what some have started to say, do you?"

"What?"

"Some think that he has charmed you, or that you have charmed him. You two spend too much time together and anyone realizes it. I think you should separate a little."

"Why would anyone think...?" with the serious look of Jaina, he decided not to continue. "I'm sick of the fact that whenever someone gets a little closer to me people do that, couldn't people mind their own business?"

"I’m just telling you, but do whatever you want." Jaina got up ready to leave, but turned around once more. "But be sure that if you keep sticking with him twenty four hours a day, more unpleasant rumors will start to appear about you."

Jaina used to set the barhighevery time she tried to speak bad about Wrathion, but this time she had gone too far because it made Anduin hesitate. What if she was right? He could admit that he spent a lot of time with Wrathion, especially in the last month, but it didn't seem enough reason for anyone to think that about them either. Maybe Jaina was right, he didn't want to put Wrathion in that kind of trouble, maybe he shouldn't abuse his company that much. That kind of rumors never brought him anything good, in the end Anduin always had to stay away from possible victims to save them the hard time. And this time it was much worse, they were both men and nobody took those things well. But above all, the young king didn't want to have those doubts about pushing Wrathion away or not. He needed him by his side, but he didn't want to complicate Wrathion's life or his own. Anduin suddenly didn't know what to do with this mess.

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Some stepped back upon hearing the roar. Wrathion fell to his knees with sore hands, he could feel an intense tingling that reached his wrists. His palms were almost burned and the wood that protected him was half undone, at least it protected him well. Wrathion removed the wood and threw it on the ground.

"That must hurt..." said Ebyssian looking at his hands.

"I'm fine." Wrathion unsheathed his weapon. "Stay alert."

Deep down, Wrathion was grateful that the conversation about Xal’atath was put aside. He nearly lost it again, but even if they didn't talk about it, he still felt the heat of the anger. The two dragons advanced first through the narrow tunnel, the others were cautious and felt cold. The incoming wind was loud and mixed other sounds, Dereck suggested that what they heard was the wind itself and not a monster. The tunnel didn't take them very far. After taking several steps, they found the end, a large hole in the mountain... and they saw another portal. It was exactly like the one they saw in the manor, a light that went from the ground to top. They also saw the black water in a corner, but it was half empty as if it had been evaporating. However, there was no trace of any monster.

They searched the cave for any clues as the dragons attempted to assess the portal. It was no different than previously seen. Wrathion thought that the Drust's magic evolved over time, but the portals always seemed to have the same pattern, which was good. If he asked Ebyssian for a little collaboration, he wouldn't even have to force his magic to destroy it.

Wrathion began to overload the portal quickly, destroying the monster's way of escape was a good start. The curvature of space reopened like the last one he saw, Ebyssian's magic helped to speed up the process, but he still couldn't see beyond the portal. Unable to get any new information out, Wrathion decided to blow it up in the blink of an eye. The shock wave was a little stronger than the last time, knocking everyone to the ground. Ebyssian's magic helped a lot to break it effectively, but it also made the shock wave stronger. They all stood up uneasily, even though there was no longer an escape portal, the monster still didn't appear. Removing the portal should have alerted it.

A movement between the rocks caught the attention of some. Tess gestured to Wrathion to make him understand that something was wrong. A small stalactite fell in front of the dragon, coming off just above his head, but when Wrathion looked up, he saw nothing. That's when he decided to ask Dereck for the special glasses, since he wasn't using them. Something logical that is done when you investigate a cave, is just looking at the parts you can step on, you don’t consider looking up expecting to see a monster hanging upside down. But there it was, thinking it would go unnoticed or waiting for something. Wrathion had to contain his amazement. It was just like the other, a long-limbed, hairless dog, in black color and light blue eyes, but much larger and stronger, it was of the size of an elekk at least. Wrathion took off the glasses and returned it to Dereck. Before anyone said anything, the dragon puffed out his cheeks and spat out a stream of fireat the top of the cave. Unlike the last, the monster didn't fall to the ground, but it moved at last by the burn.

"What the…?" said Baine, surprised to see it for the first time. The monster, still stuck to the top, began to move to the exit ready to flee.

"No way!"

Wrathion ran after the monster. He followed it to the outside, where he saw it rolling over the snow because of the burn. The monster was trying to use camouflage magic, but it didn't go too well. It became invisible for a few seconds and reappeared, like it couldn't be controlled. But just as Wrathion was going to get close, lots of haunted servitors appeared. But they weren't the same as the one seen in the Crimson Forest, these were like the descriptions of the book, so thin that they seemed to be made only of branches. Wrathion quickly realized that they were covering the escape of the big one, it ran crookedly into the forest. The dragon unsheathed his weapon, noted discomfort on the palms of his hands due to the burn, but charged against the haunted servitors anyway. He eliminated the first easily with a swift and, when he turned to face the next, an arrow from Tess struck the haunted's head. Being a little slower than normal because the tauren were very surprised after seeing the monster, they joined Wrathion to confront the haunted servitors. These enemies were nothing to them, they didn't use magic and they weren't strong, the only quality they had was the speed with which they scratched. Everyone was eliminated, only Baine received a small scratch on his arm, but Calia quickly healed him.

"What strange creatures..." Mayla pointed out looking at one of them. "I had never seen anything like this."

"The Drust magic is peculiar." Calia said.

"It has left a somewhat fuzzy trail." Ebyssian announced pointing towards the forest. "It is bleeding..."

"Blood?" Mayla asked. "Where?"

"No, I mean it’s leaving a magic trail, but it's a bit confusing because of the type of magic."

"It's running away to the forest." Wrathion said heading there. "Let's go."

Wrathion just hoped it didn't run far away, the forest wasn't particularly large, but if it turns invisible again, it would be difficult to find it again. Upon returning to the forest, they found a dense mist that wasn't there before and believed it was being provoked. The mist wasn't letting the sunlight through well and it didn't seem like it was noon. Both dragons followed the magic trail with difficulties, it seemed that it was evaporating over time and the monster was trying to mislead. They could only follow it to the cemetery. The Barrowknoll Cemetery was sinister no matter where you looked, the mist half revealed the small pantheons and gravestones. It was obvious that no one came there for a long time, it was totally abandoned and some paintings from the coven were still there. Just by spending a few seconds there, Wrathion realized something.

"The trail splits..." Wrathion muttered. "One goes north, the other west."

"Can these monsters divide?" Mayla asked.

"It must be a false trail." Dereck said. "Anyone who is persecuted and has some intelligence does that, leaves another trail to mislead."

"We should separate." Tess proposed. "We have two dragons so we could make two groups and each follow a trail."

"And how can we communicate if something happens?" Calia asked.

"We have emergency flares." Mayla said as she took out some goblin-made guns with the Horde symbol. "They make a very bright red flash, you can see it even in this mist. If something happens, whatever, we can use them."

"Wouldn't we alert someone from the Horde?" Tess asked.

"No, in Drustvar there's just the three of us, but still..." Mayla showed three flares. "We don't have many, so we can't use them without thinking." Dereck and Tess grabbed the guns to load them, but by mistake, Dereck fired his to the sideways. Everyone was absolutely silent and Dereck looked confused.

"Oops..." said the spy. At least Mayla was right, the flash was quite bright.

"We better split up now." Wrathion said, impatiently.

They did a fair mix of groups. Ebyssian would go with Tess and Baine to the west, Wrathion would go with Dereck, Mayla and Calia to the north. Most of them said goodbye with a tap on the shoulder, Tess and Dereck with a hug and a kiss, and they set off at once. Ebyssian's group soon left the cemetery to go west, they only had to dodge some gravestones and they would enter the forest again. Wrathion's group had to cross the entire place. They were with one hand holding a weapon to defend themselves at any moment, the atmosphere was threatening. They moved silently, hearing wolves howling or crows flapping nearby. Wrathion saw the trail more and more diffuse, as if the monster had calmly recovered from the attack. As they started to leave the cemetery, Calia touched Wrathion's shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey..." the priest began. "I'm sorry about Xal’atath, I didn't know that something like this could produce such a catastrophe in the world." Wrathion sighed.

"Forget it."

"I can't, because obviously you care a lot."

"And what do I do about it? It's late."

"I just want you to know that if we had known, we would never have used it."

Wrathion stopped dead. Calia thought he would confront her, but the dragon stared straight ahead. Neither could see anything in the mist, but as they took a few steps, they saw someone. Everyone approached very slowly, the mist didn't let them see until they were almost two meters away. But Wrathion could see them before anyone else, they were several haunted servitors standing side by side, as if they were making a wall, with their arms making a cross on their chest. The one in the middle moved first as it raised its arms to attack Wrathion, who was further ahead. The other servitors moved as well and had a little confrontation. There were five enemies, but they weren't a challenge. Only Calia was behind because she didn't know how to fight well with a single dagger, but with the skill of the others it wasn't a problem. Once the enemies were killed, they understood that they wouldn't be the only ones they were going to find. Probably they drew attention with that accidental Dereck flare.

"Hey..." Mayla said. "This one is a human." the others looked at one of the bodies. She was right, right after removing what appeared to be a helmet, they saw a man. But it was quite decomposed and radiated Drust magic.

"Is he one of the missing?" Wrathion asked Calia. "Does he look familiar to you?"

"Maybe? He is too rotten for me to identify."

"They're covering up the big one." Wrathion sighed. "We have the whole afternoon ahead, open your eyes. It shouldn't be far."

"So, do we notify others if we find it or if we're in danger?" Dereck asked.

"Both."

Wrathion hoped that the other three would also follow that idea and not attempt to face the monster alone, furthermore, he could quickly come to assist them if he transformed into a dragon, it wouldn't be a problem.

The only thing that was difficult was avoiding people, nobody could see them with someone from the Horde. Dodging the towns or the occasional merchant was complicated, but not impossible. But once again, bad luck came. Wrathion wasn't sure if he was following the trail correctly as the Drust seemed to know very well how to make false trails and that led to them going around the northeast part of Drustvar a lot.

After several hours, they saw Ebyssian's group shoot a flare near their position. At first they felt a little scared when they saw the sign. The paranoia grew when they started running towards them thinking that maybe something bad happened to them. Wrathion was the first to find them for being the fastest. Tess was sitting on a rock next to Baine showing the mechanism of her wrist-mounted crossbowand Ebyssian was walking from side to side, there was no apparent threat. When the others caught up with them, the bad news became apparent: they found nothing and were exhausted. Without realizing it, the sun was already on the horizon bathing Drustvar in an orange tone. The tauren couldn't stay that long and had to stop searching until tomorrow.

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When night began to fall, they arrived at Arom's Stand. To everyone's big irritation, no one found anything other than the haunted servitors who used to assault them through the woods. The haunted ones turned out to be a good tactic to mislead, at the end of the day, the trail was completely lost. The tauren retired to the Horde's base at Anyport, a harbor west of Drustvar invaded by the Horde after the Battle of Stormsong Valley, and said to see each other tomorrow morning. They didn't want to walk at night, if those monsters were more active at night, it was better to hunt them during the day. But the truth was that everyone ended up exhausted from walking through the woods. When they sat down to eat, they could hardly get up off the chair again. Wrathion was frustrated rather than tired, too many bad things happened in one day and the unease didn't seem to go away. Although he accompanied the others during dinner, he didn't speak much nor did he want to eat. At bedtime, Tess and Dereck used the room Anduin used the last time since Wrathion wasn't going to give it any use and much less wanted to sleep.

The dragon climbed onto the roof of the house when the whole town fell asleep. Apart from thinking a thousand times all the bad thoughts of the day, he looked at the palms of his burned hands. The truth is that they hurt slightly, but he didn't want to remedy it. There were a spectacular blue and green northern lights in the sky, much like the ones he saw in Northrend, it was the only consolation he found. But as soon as an hour passed, he decided to move out of boredom.

Transformed into a dragon, he began to fly all over Kul Tiras slowly rocking in midair. He did some pirouettes in the air with class until he approached Boralus. Although it was late, he wanted to take a look at the Proudmoore Keep out of curiosity. He was surprised to see light coming from Anduin's room, was he still awake? With everything that had happened, he felt the need to speak to him. Wrathion landed on the Unity Square and returned to his human form. As on other occasions, he easily climbed the wall thanks to the protruding bricks and reached the balcony. Light was coming out of the room and Wrathion tapped the glass before opening. Anduin was lying on the bed covered up to his waist and looked at him quite surprised as a letter slipped down his hand. Wrathion put his hands in his pockets and tried to smile at him.

"What are you doing awake so late?" asked the dragon.

"Why aren't you in Drustvar?" Anduin gave a small smile.

"I asked you first." the young king sighed.

"I was only awake in the morning for a while, I have been sleeping the rest of the day, now I'm not sleepy."

"Oh, so now you stay up late…" Anduin raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. "I was bored and I approached Boralus. As soon as I saw light coming out of your room I decided to say hello."

"We can stay up late together." Wrathion took the invitation. He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge.

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, I just feel a little light and sometimes my head feels heavy. But in a few days I'll be fine, for sure." Wrathion smirked at him.

"Your head is always heavy." Anduin only responded with a weak kick.

"What about you guys in Drustvar? Baine and the others… no problem?" Wrathion's face changed, he became much more serious.

"It went well, it ran smoothly, but Calia followed Tess and Dereck." Anduin just blinked. "Apparently she suspected that we were hiding something serious. She saw the tauren, but it turns out that she and Mayla are close friends for transporting the artifact weapons to Silithus. The truth is, she took it so well that I'm still amazed."

"I'm not." Anduin reflected. "Calia and I spoke when the conflicts began in Silithus, she didn't like the idea that we started fighting again after the Burning Legion, she would agree with these small alliances... I'm not surprised that she took it well."

"I hope it really is like that, I wouldn't want to kill her so she wouldn't give us away."

"No, that won't happen." he said very sure. "And did you find something?"

"We found the monster that occupied the entire eastern area in a cave, we destroyed the portal, but the monster ended up running away. We were looking for it all afternoon but we only found haunted servitors that have covered it up so… we haven't made much progress."

"But you took the monster out of the cave and destroyed a portal, that's very good." Wrathion sighed with a small smile.

"I almost forgot your optimism." as soon as the dragon looked away, Anduin began to think that he was in a bad mood or something bad had happened.

"And nothing else happened?" Wrathion denied. "Are you sure?" the dragon raised his hands as if Anduin threatened with a weapon.

"Nothing has happened." as he took his hands out of his pockets, Anduin saw the burns and worried.

"What happened to your hands? Does it hurt?"

"No... I..." Wrathion scratched the back of his neck. "The barrier that protected the cave burned me when I broke it, but it doesn't hurt or anything." Anduin approached him and looked at his hands closely.

"You should have at least told Calia to make you a cure."

Wrathion just looked away and Anduin understood that he was in a bad mood. He used the Light to superficially heal and alleviate the pain that Wrathion was surely trying to hide. Wrathion didn't move and looked at Anduin all the time. The soft touch of the young king's hands gave him goosebumps, probably Anduin himself wasn't aware that his hands were so soft, much less the effect it had on Wrathion. If Wrathion had had enough courage, he would have kissed him right there, but he obviously repressed as he always had.

"What has happened so that you're in a bad mood?" asked Anduin suddenly looking at him. Wrathion sighed and looked away.

"Is it so obvious?"

"Of course, I already know you well enough to realize it. What happened?" Wrathion hesitated for a second. It wasn't that he distrusted Anduin, it was that he didn't know how the young king would take it or if he would understand why Wrathion was angry.

"It's just... I found out something I'm not sure if I really wanted to know."

"What have you found out?" Wrathion thought how to tell him.

"If I asked what N’Zoth did to corrupt the Azerite, would you know how to explain it?"

"It was a mental thing, wasn't it?"

"The effect is mental, yes. But it's by touching the Azerite, so, that means the Azerite has something inside, something that is physical, that produces such a thing. He must have injected something into it the moment it started to sprout for this to happen. Could you tell me how he was able to do it if he's locked up?" Anduin frowned.

"I don't know, you never talked about this."

"Because I didn't know either, I didn't talk about it because I didn't know anything no matter how much I investigated it. But today I found out and now that I know I think I preferred when it was a mystery."

"Why?"

"Because it's Xal’atath's fault." Anduin was thoughtful.

"Xal’atath… it was a weapon, wasn't it? I think the priests had it."

"It's a dagger of the Black Empire, from when the old gods ruled." Anduin finished making the small cure in his hands, but was left blank. "It seems that she went unnoticed among the priests because she offered power, but she had some dealings with N'Zoth, one that would help that bastard get out of his prison."

"But how?"

"Xal’atath can do something like that. 'You insert the corruption, I'll drive them crazy and I'll give you what you want' was probably the deal... And that's how it all went to hell."

"I knew they transported those legendary weapons to Silithus, but I didn't imagine that Xal'atath would start everything. Can we get it back?"

"No, Calia has already told me that Xal'atath was destroyed as soon as she did its job, it no longer exists." Wrathion let out an impatient sigh. "Really... a year looking for the damn dagger everywhere and in the end a group of mortals screwed everything up, of course I am in a bad mood." several nervous tics that Wrathion used to have appeared uncontrollably, one in his right leg and one in his left hand. "I... I think I shouldn't be with you now, actually."

He didn't want to lose it in front of Anduin, once was enough. He should have rolled on the snow like he used to. Anduin didn't say anything for a few seconds, he didn't think Wrathion was angry, rather down. His expression was sad, not anger. Hours ago, Jaina told him that certain rumors were circulating about them and he thought that he should detach himself from the dragon a little, but at that moment, it was impossible for him. How could he push Wrathion away if he appreciated him so much? Anduin almost felt stupid for thinking about it.

"Okay, come here." Anduin grabbed his arm and made him lie down with him. Wrathion said nothing, just let himself be guided. They lied down side by side, but Anduin caressed his head reassuringly. He was surprised to notice that, although the dragon seemed to have slightly curly and dry hair, it was very soft to the touch and smoothed very easily. "I won't deny that what Xal’atath did is a nuisance, but what are we going to do?"

"I don't know…"

"What is done cannot be undone, much less such a thing. There is no choice but to accept it and move on. Xal’atath did the curse that unleashed everything? Well, it will be fixed when N’Zoth dies, we shouldn't be thinking about something that has no solution."

"What angers me is that they did what Xal’atath asked for. Listen to a weapon that whispers..."

"You yourself have been telling me this last month that it's difficult to resist the whispers, which are always very persuasive, would you really blame them?" Wrathion shook his head and dropped it on Anduin's shoulder. Although they were talking about something that bothered him, he didn't want to break that moment because he was angry. The fact that the young king caressed his head like that reassured him completely.

"Why are you caressing me using a pattern?"

"It's what they used to do to me when I had a tantrum, it's reassuring."

"You? Tantrums?"

"When I was very little, kids stuff I guess. There are many things that I haven't told you about my childhood."

"What if you tell me now? I prefer to talk about that."

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"My turn." Wrathion said cheerfully and thoughtfully. "I think I'll ask you... Tell me about an embarrassing moment in your life."

"No..." Anduin tried to hide a smile unsuccessfully. "I don't want to say something like that."

"You're the one who set the rules, and I won't change the question."

Anduin sighed in defeat. Wrathion had sat on the bed and leaned his back against the wall, Anduin took advantage of it and rested his legs on the dragon's lap. When Wrathion calmed down, they decided to invent a game. Since Anduin mentioned that he had never told him about his childhood, they decided to make an exchange, information for information, a trivia game. They only agreed on two rules: the first is that they couldn't repeat the other's question, and the second that Anduin couldn't ask about the three years in which Wrathion disappeared. The dragon didn't want to mention anything from the past and it was his condition to play. Although it was a game to get to know each other better, Anduin was left wanting to ask him about it, but he always ended up accepting things without arguing.

"Okay," Anduin couldn't help but smile. “but don't laugh. When I was little I sometimes left food on the plate, especially with food that I didn't like."

"Who would have guessed that nowadays..."

"The thing is, when I was very young, there was a cook who didn't like me to do that. One day he threatened me because I was leaving too much food." Wrathion raised his eyebrows. "He told me that if I didn't eat everything, the Plague would come after me to eat me since that's what happens to children. I believed it and from that day on I never leave food on my plate." Wrathion couldn't hold back the laughter as much as he covered his mouth with one hand. "I told you not to laugh."

"It's not because it seems ridiculous, it's that... Ah... It sounds very much like you."

"What does that mean?"

"It sounds very innocent." Wrathion looked at him. "I believe it coming from you."

"My turn." Anduin said to change the subject, but he had to think about the question for a few seconds. "Tell me something you would like it to be different." Wrathion just laughed.

"You should be a little more specific, there are too many things that I would like it to be different."

"But I mean one in particular that is above others." Wrathion sighed and considered it. There were too many things, but there was one in particular that bothered him.

"I guess what happened with my flight, what happened to my father especially."

"Not being controlled by N’Zoth?"

"I would have preferred that he resisted, that he had told the others to help him, but... I know that he resisted for years, I understand. She always said to me: 'You should have seen the mental burden that he was carrying and how long he endured.'"

"You look a lot like your father in that sense." Wrathion looked at him askance. "I mean that you keep things for yourself and don't tell anyone."

"But I don't hate him for that, I don't hate him for falling, it's just..." Wrathion looked the other way.

"What exactly do you hate?"

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, really."

"Could it be because deep down you need to take it out of you?" Wrathion scratched his head. "You can talk about it with me if you want, you know it, right?"

"It's better that we continue, I already answered you. My turn." Anduin felt a slight discomfort. He wouldn't have minded listening to him if he wanted to let off steam. But he was just like his father. "Come on, tell me a hidden wish you have."

"Seriously?" Wrathion looked at him expectantly. "Well, I would be delighted to see one of those northern lights that I have heard many people describe." the dragon was slightly surprised.

"Really? Too bad it's dawn, if not, I would take you to see one."

"Is the night over?" Anduin felt sleepy, but he didn't think it was so late... or soon.

"We stayed up late a lot. I think I should go back and you should sleep."

"Are you trying to run away because it was my turn to ask?"

"Okay, so that the light-boy doesn't cry, ask the last question." Anduin was doubtful at first but a somewhat shy smile escaped after a few seconds. Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"Did you miss me the last three years?" the dragon couldn't contain a surprised smile. "Just curiosity, nothing else."

"Yes... I did." Wrathion looked at him with a small smile. "And you?"

"We couldn't repeat questions."

"I'm not playing now." Anduin sighed lightly.

"In a way, yes." Wrathion nodded as if satisfied, showed his smile one last time and stood up to leave. But as soon as he took two steps toward the balcony, Anduin remembered that he must tell him something important. "Wait, Wrathion!" the dragon turned around, Anduin had stood up too. "I had to tell you that Jaina told me this morning that someone deserted Gorak Tul long ago and he’s still alive."

"I read that someone deserted... Is he really alive?" Anduin nodded. "What's his name? She told you?"

"Ulfar, someone who is in tune with animals, but I don't know where you can find him."

"Animals... I'll look for him, you go back to bed, you shouldn't walk barefoot."

"It was only a moment." Wrathion grabbed the young king by the waist and lifted him off the ground easily. Anduin tried to protest, but had to stop until Wrathion left him in bed again.

"Go to sleep! I want you to recover as soon as possible."

"Are you all missing me so much?" he asked jokingly, but Wrathion looked at him almost seriously.

"It's just that with you everything is much better." there was a small silence because Anduin didn't know what to say. "Good night... Or good morning, depends on how you see it."

"Be careful. Don't let your... don't let anything happen to anyone."

"We'll be fine, besides, I have an idea this time."

Anduin waved goodbye when Wrathion walked away. It was strange, but he had to correct himself when he told him to be careful, since he only thought about Wrathion and not the others before changing it. He supposed he was amused that Wrathion said that he wished him a speedy recovery because he wanted to go together and felt that the young king improved the environment, the dragon almost got a silly smile from Anduin for it. Anduin stretched before settling into bed. Hopefully they would catch that monster at once and go one step further to find Gorak Tul.

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Wrathion had to wait a couple of hours until someone woke up. At first he only saw Calia and Lucille talking quietly while they had coffee for breakfast. The dragon nodded when they both looked at him.

"Good Morning." Calia said, kindly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, good. Can I ask you a question?" said the dragon looking at Lucille.

"Sure." she said.

"Is Ulfar known to you?" Lucille was deeply thoughtful with a frown and took some seconds to answer.

"He sounds familiar..." Lucille was silent again. "I think he is the man who instructs the druids... But I'm not sure."

"Do you know anything more about him?"

"Not really. The druidic arts in Kul Tiras are private and difficult to access. Why do you ask?"

"I heard that Ulfar knew Gorak Tul, he's from his time." Lucille almost gasped.

"Seriously? I didn't know... Are you going out now?"

"As soon as the other two come."

"I can investigate it while you're out. I didn't know that detail."

"I would appreciate that."

That mysterious druid wasn't even known to the dominant house of the place. Wrathion guessed it was because the Drust were still there and he didn't want to go noticed. Although if it was a closed circle, maybe he wouldn't be so lucky to locate it. He hoped that Lucille would end up knowing enough to guide him later and for now he would focus on finding the monster that escaped.

The two spies got up with some stiffness on their legs, but after breakfast they claimed to be fine and ready to search for monsters. The four left in the middle of the morning to the indicated place where they would meet the tauren again. They decided to meet in the cemetery where they were forced to separate yesterday. Originally it was thought that it would be a good idea to be at the place where they divided to start the search again. But this time, Wrathion came up with an idea.

They waited for a while near a huge anchor in the center of the cemetery, the place was still empty and with the same gloomy aura. The tauren arrived after a while because they had to take a long route to get there and not be seen. Everyone greeted each other.

"Well," Baine began. "and what do we do now? The trail was lost yesterday...”

"Wrathion says he has a plan." Tess said. Everyone looked at him, the dragon was sitting on top of the anchor.

"Yes, I have an idea to locate the damn monster." Wrathion jumped down. "We only need to ask those who have a sixth sense to perceive beings that become invisible."

"Ask?" Dereck said, puzzled. "And who do we ask? To the plants?"

"No, not plants. But we can ask animals."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wranduin: the return.  
I always tried to imagine funny moments in Anduin's childhood (in general he had quite a disastrous childhood) and tried the origin of why he eats so much lel.  
Although this was just an excuse to write that conversation where they say things, anyway. Kudos and comments are welcome :)  
Until next time!


	36. Black dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Ah, this chapter, damn it, almost four months to write it because i had a big mental block, what a disaster. Also, 3 more chapters and I'll get to the last one I wrote, which means that there won't be chapters every week, you will have to wait for my mental blocks and such... Anyway.  
Maybe it shows a lot that it was written for so long and there are things that aren't consistent, sorry for that, I hope it is enjoyable.  
Sorry for grammar mistakes.

It was so logical that Wrathion didn't understand why he hadn't considered it before. Who was better than an animal to locate a monster? He learned a while ago that mammals especially had the most developed senses to detect beings that became invisible. Furthermore, Wrathion could communicate with them calmly. The forest was full of wolves, deer and bears, he had options everywhere. Dereck looked at him in surprise, it wasn't something he would have considered.

"I didn't know dragons could talk to animals." Mayla said to Ebyssian, but Ebyssian shook his head flatly.

"We can't." he replied. "Black dragons can't, only green dragons and some red dragons can. How can you communicate with animals?" he asked looking at Wrathion.

"Someone taught me a while ago." Wrathion replied before going into the forest again. Mayla looked at Ebyssian again with a frown, as if wondering if that was possible.

"I already told you that he was weird..." he said.

Wrathion knew that Ebyssian would be surprised since he was right. Black dragons weren't able to talk to animals. But that valuable gift was given to him and ever since then, even if it was with a simple squirrel, he could always count on them. Wrathion looked into the forest and began to whistle using a pattern, a medium long whistle and two short ones three times. For some reason, animals reacted to it. Wrathion always thought that whistle meant sending a distress call for animals to aid. He only waited a few seconds when a young wolf appeared through some bushes. The dragon could see some confusion in the wolf's eyes as it waited. Wrathion asked about the pack's alpha, implying that it was important. The young wolf agreed to take him alone, so Wrathion told the others to wait a few minutes.

The wolf didn't take him too far. A few meters from the cemetery, after crossing the river, there was a small hole in the ground. The pack was disturbed by the arrival of the dragon, but the young wolf immediately calmed them. The alpha, who if it stood on two legs was almost as big as Wrathion, growled at the intruder.

_"I have not come to harm or occupy territory."_ Wrathion said in Draconic.

_"Who are you?"_ asked the alpha.

_"My name is Wrathion, I need help."_

_"On what?"_

_"Have you seen a monster lately? Something that took people or animals."_ the alpha looked at him with some curiosity.

_"Yes, we have all seen it. It took our old alpha."_ Wrathion took a few steps and crouched at eye level.

_"I found it and left it wounded, but it ran away and I'm afraid it will recover. I can easily defeat it, the only thing I have come to ask for is help because I can't see it if it is invisible."_

_"Can't you perceive it like us?"_

_"No, I don't have that ability highly developed."_ the alpha hesitated.

_"We have problems here, I can't leave for so long, we have pups to take care of too."_

_"__Shall__ we make a pact?_ _You tell me where it is and I will take care of the rest._ _The monster will not exist and you will live in peace."_ there was no answer. _"Do you accept?"_ the alpha took a few seconds.

_"I accept."_

Wrathion smirked, it was the best help he could have. The wolf ordered his pack not to come out until the monster was truly dead and followed the dragon. The others remained waiting in the cemetery as requested and were talking about something serious. Wrathion quickly explained that they were going to have a special guide and this time he was sure they would find the monster. The wolf led the way, sniffing the ground. It led them north, past Fallhaven. Wrathion asked what they were talking about before. Baine explained that he was feeling a bit overwhelmed because he had to choose a place to loot in Drustvar. Nothing seemed right to him, he didn't want to harm those poor people, but he didn't see a way out either. They talked about it in the meantime but nowhere seemed to be feasible. Wrathion scratched his head, the truth is that Sylvanas put them in trouble if they returned with their hands empty. He tried to devise a plan to help them, but a couple of bad thoughts ended up intruding. Why would he actually do it? It wasn't his problem, they weren't part of his group, he could hardly feel enough sympathy... Why would he help them?

A crow came down from a nearby tree, squawking at Wrathion. It kept talking, that crow also heard the call and had been following Wrathion ever since he met the wolves.

_"Hi mindok sejum hokoron?"_ Wrathion asked. The crow answered him and looked at the wolf. _"Hi hah los rok tipa?"_ the wolf answered. _"Pruz."_

"Hey," said Tess, coming closer. "translation."

"The crow has seen the monster and can take us where it last saw it, that will help the wolf to track it faster." the crow flapped its wings quickly and tried to take them to a path that led to the mountain.

"How did you learn to communicate with animals?" Ebyssian asked him.

"Why so much interest? Do you want to?"

"No, but I'm curious since black dragons can't."

"It's a gift someone gave me, the end."

He didn't quite know why, but he was slightly annoyed that Ebyssian asked him questions. Getting off on the wrong footwith him still lingered in his mind and Wrathion couldn't figure out why he was trying to get to know him better. He supposed that Ebyssian would hate him forever and assumed it from the beginning, but now… It took him by surprise and he couldn't react well.

As they advanced, other animals either joined or were spectators. Wrathion started to realize that all the forest fauna seemed to be against monsters. Many animals were bewitched or slaughtered by the Drust and now they all knew that someone would come up with a solution. Animals never decide at first, they never used to make decisions beyond instinct. But when someone stood out, they followed without hesitation. That was the reason that proto-drakes evolved to what they are today. As soon as they began to show signs of intelligence, they caught the guardians' attention back then.

They followed a path half covered by orange leaves until they reached the base of the central mountain, at the north pass caverns. The crow led them up to an area that was half snowed and seemed to be no one. Calia told them that this area was previously a base for somewhat problematic gnolls, but they had abandoned it for a few months. The crow spoke to Wrathion one last time before flying off confirming that it saw the monster in this same area a few hours ago. The wolf began sniffing the ground and the air, he growled after a few seconds, pulling his ears back. Wrathion also noticed something strange, it was the same sensation he had when he was close to one of them, so he held his weapon. That area was full of caves and they had to inspect all of them. They separated into small groups to try luck, they weren't large caves and were easily inspected. Holding their weapons and bottles of alchemical fire, they searched carefully.

Dereck walked with Tess to look in the cave that was slightly separated following the wolf. The entrance to the cave was wide and the inside was only a few meters. The wolf growled and Dereck stopped. He was sure something was wrong judging by the position of its tail and ears. He quickly put on the special glasses when he saw something move towards them. With almost no time to react, Dereck pushed Tess aside and was rammed some meters away. The monster's invisibility disappeared as he hit the spy and limped out of the cave. Now in daylight, it could be clearly seen that he had a leg almost melted from Wrathion's burn. Tess helped Dereck to get up and see if he was okay. Although the monster rammed him by surprise, he didn't seem to have serious injuries, only the intense pain of the blow on one side. The others ran to surround the monster as soon as possible so that it wouldn't escape again.

Using alchemical fire, they cut the obvious exits with the few branches in the area. Wrathion was the first to jump on him and stabbed it with his dagger across its upper back. The monster made a violent shake to try to get him off, but Wrathion didn't move. The tauren surrounded it and attacked as soon as it got even minimally close. The monster attempted to climb the mountain, but Wrathion encircled its neck and tried to slit its throat. Noticing the deep cut it was suffering, the monster turned around and slammed his back against the ground. Wrathion didn't have time to dodge it and released its neck when he felt the pain. Baine didn’t wait a second, he held his totem tightly and smashed the monster's jaw as hard as he could, knocking it to the ground. Mayla and Ebyssian seized the moment to use the alchemical fire and set it on fire. It didn't take long to take effect, the fire surrounded the entire body in a matter of seconds. Still, the monster tried to roll on the snow and survive. Just as he took a few rolls into the snow, Wrathion threw his weapon and nailed in the monster's head. The flames followed their course and, like the little monster in the manor, it began to turn into completely black ash.

"I think we shouldn't have burned it." Baine said. "I would have liked to inspect it."

"You couldn't have." Wrathion announced. "As soon as they die they turn into dust at the moment."

Baine looked slightly disappointed. Wrathion moved his shoulders and stretched continuously. At first it hurt that the monster stamped him and he still felt the tingling in his upper body, but it wasn't going to last too long. He approached Tess and Dereck, who weren't involved in the small fight. Dereck was sitting on a rock with one hand on his right ribs.

"You're good?" Wrathion asked. Dereck sighed.

"Yes, a monster just rammed me, nothing to object to." Dereck lost his voice a little at the end.

"Hey," Calia reached them and approached Dereck. "let me see." Calia lifted the clothing the spy was wearing to see his ribs. He had a bruise on the ribs and Calia channeled the Light to heal him.

"Thanks for pulling me away." Tess said, Dereck smiled at her and gave her a little caress on the cheek. "Two monsters down, only one left."

"I don't know if it will be easy to find." Wrathion said. "At least it's not a challenge to beat them, they’re weak."

"I would do what we have done with this one. Go to its house to destroy the portal and then track it down."

"It's an option."

Wrathion walked away as the tauren approached. Some animals were still there and the wolf seemed confused. The dragon thanked it and assured them that they could live in peace now. As expected, the animals thanked him and the wolf even licked his hand. As usual, they were the purest creatures on the planet. Calia finished healing Dereck, but the poor spy was walking a little sore. He needed an anti-inflammatory cream to do what the Light couldn't, but they didn't have one now. They decided to return to the Arom's Stand and look for one and continue with their mission.

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The sky was fairly clear by noon. Arom's Stan was much more alive than usual. The news that the monsters were being eradicated must have encouraged the locals. Since they didn't plan to stay there long, the tauren stayed near an Azerite stand to wait.

They went straight to the main house to get what they needed quickly. It didn't take long for Calia to find the cream and smear it on Dereck's ribs. While in the process, Lucille appeared.

"Hello." she greeted in general. "What happened?"

"We have killed another monster." Wrathion replied. "Dereck took a hit on the way."

"I’m sorry for that." Dereck gesture as if to say don't worry. "By the way, I know who Ulfar is."

"What?" Wrathion couldn't help but be surprised. "You have found out so quickly."

"I had the feeling that he was a druid, starting from that base it was not difficult to discover the truth. I spoke to a couple of people and they have indicated where to find him."

"Great. Tell me." Lucille opened a map of Drustvar.

"Right here where we are," pointed out the Arom's Stand. "you have to go down the mountain through the Highroad Pass. Just after passing the Azerite, on the right, you will see a tree with some stones and candles. One of the stones should have a magic symbol representing the druids, a green leaf. There is supposed to be a path right there that you must follow. You will go a little up the mountain but you should reach Ulfar's Lair." Wrathion followed the path Lucille traced. It didn't have much loss.

"Okay, thanks for the information."

"You're welcome. By the way, this circle of druids is called Thornspeakers, for your information."

Wrathion nodded. Finally someone could shed some light. Now that he had an objective, Wrathion communicated that they would take a slight turn to try to get answers. At first they suggested Dereck stay in town if the blow hurt enough, but the spy said he could take it and accompanied them anyway.

They took the road to the Highroad Pass and saw that the tauren stayed near the Azerite stand as requested. Wrathion stepped forward looking for the stones and candles that supposedly indicated the way. The others chatted about what they were going to do and what they should ask. Since Ulfar was a deserter, they weren't sure he knew with whom Gorak Tul made the deal, he may have deserted without asking questions after seeing the practices. Wrathion saw what Lucille described minutes ago, a tree with stones and candles around it. He approached before anyone else to observe. One of the small stones had a green leaf engraved with magic. They were on the right track, they just had to follow the path on the right.

That snow-covered path led to a narrow gorge where they had to go one by one in a queue. As mentioned, the path made them go slightly up the mountain. There was no tree or rock on the way and suddenly they started stepping on fresh grass. That wasn't very natural considering that they were so high up, only druids could do something like that. Moving further, they found an area with trees and a small water well in front of a cave. Was that Ulfar's lair? There was no time to doubt whether to enter or not because both Wrathion and Calia, who were ahead, were suddenly rooted in the ground. When the rest turned around, they saw that felines and bears with bones for protection surrounded them. They weren't too many, but the druidic magic rooted them hard in the ground.

"Who are you?" a Kultiran woman wielding a wooden staff in dark green robes showed herself behind a tree.

"Wait," Calia replied. "we are not a threat."

"Then what are you?"

"We only seek knowledge."

"I don't remember any of you going through the entrance exams."

"Why extend this further?" Wrathion said. The dragon didn't want to waste time, he used fire magic to easily burn the roots and remain free before the astonished gaze of the woman. "Are you the thornspeakers druids?" the Kultiran woman hesitated.

"Why does a stranger like you know our circle?"

"I need to talk to your boss about the Drust." one of the bears that surrounded them changed shape to a thin man who whispered something to the woman. She widened her eyes in surprise.

"You... Are you the continentals who defeated an abomination in the manor?" some nodded and the two Kultirans looked at each other. "Why did you decide to get involved in this?"

"If you let us talk to Ulfar, you will know." the two druids looked at each other somewhat unsure. Suddenly there were loud footsteps coming from the cave behind them. A large bear covered in branches and leaves approached them. Wrathion quickly realized the power he had.

"You..." spoke the bear addressing Wrathion. "A dragon?"

"Judging by the power that you have, I guess that you are Ulfar."

"That's right. I've heard lately that some outsiders have been dealing with the Drust, and one of them was a dragon. I take it for granted that you are those outsiders."

"We are. We've already dealt with a couple of monsters. We're missing the one that lurks in the Crimson Forest, but we will get rid of that soon. We wanted to talk to you because we need some information."

"Information about what?"

"What do you think? We know you belonged to the Drust tribe years ago."

Ulfar seemed to sigh, but he didn't refuse. Wrathion felt that perhaps he shouldn't say that Ulfar was part of the Drust years ago because the Druids didn't know, but no one seemed surprised. The big bear gestured with his front paw, a gesture of invitation to go inside the cave and speak. Many of the animals that surrounded them were druids that returned to their human form when they saw that Ulfar invited them.

The interior of the cave wasn't particularly big, it had enough space to house a few trees that grew thanks to Druidic magic and many flowers and decorative candles.

"I've never imagined that two black dragons would ask me for information." Ulfar said.

"Is this the first time you see black dragons?" Ebyssian asked.

"Yes, I've heard a lot about you kin. The magic you have is interesting." Ulfar looked at Wrathion. "Although yours is different, it’s more peculiar."

"We all realize that..."

"We haven't come to talk about me." Wrathion said. "There are some things I would like to know about your past and why you deserted."

"First of all I want to make something clear." Ulfar sat down. "I don't know everything. I left a while before things got out of hand." Wrathion sat on the floor.

"You can start from the beginning. How did you get to Kul Tiras?"

"Many years ago. We are Vrykuls. Ymiron, our king, wasn't very given to nature, he didn't see the beauty and considered it a waste of time. When some of us began to feel druidic affinities, we spent our days in the woods exploring this power. But Ymiron didn't like it."

"Did he forbid it?"

"No, but he made the rest of the town not see it with good eyes. Everyone said that it was better to stay in town making weapons or getting food than to be in the forest."

"The silence of the forest is more preferable than the noise of the urbanization."

"I see you speak my language." Ulfar laughed lightly. "One day Gorak Tul gathered the ones who wanted to continue practicing this magic and we escaped. Months passed before we decided to settle in Kul Tiras. Since it was an uninhabited island at first, we made it ours. We changed our name, we called ourselves the Drust and we managed to be in complete harmony with nature."

"Could you walk through the Emerald Dream?"

"Yes, after many years, Gorak Tul was the first to achieve it. The rest of us needed much longer time, and those of us who could, didn't spend much time there either. But we live in peace for years."

"I guess things started to go wrong when the humans arrived."

"Yes. When the humans arrived they began to settle as if the place were theirs, cutting down trees and hunting animals. None of our tribe liked that, on that we all agreed, but there were discussions about what we should do."

"What discussions?" Dereck asked. Wrathion noticed that everyone was sitting down paying attention to Ulfar as if he was a teacher giving a history class and the dragon found it amusing.

"Some of us said that we should dialogue, others directly wanted to kick them. I sided with those who wanted to talk to humans. Gorak Tul was one of those who wanted to kick them out, but he gave the opportunity to those of us who wanted to talk even though he had no hope." Ulfar took a second rest. "We spoke to the humans but we didn't reach an agreement, they weren't going to leave and the only option was to share the place. But the humans were quite greedy at first and Gorak Tul ended up deciding that it was best to start war against them."

"From what I know of the story," Calia said. "that war didn't go too well."

"Humans used weapons that we hadn't seen." Ulfar admitted with a sigh. "But Gorak Tul didn't want to give up. It was when it all started."

"As far as we know," Wrathion said. "he made a pact with someone related to the Shadowlands."

"At first they were things that we thought were normal. It gave life to rocks, something we never saw. He said it was part of Druidism, but over time we realized that this wasn't the case and the necrotic magic was more than obvious."

"And how did he know? Who taught him?"

"That only Gorak Tul himself knows." Wrathion sighed annoyed. "He changed his attitude when he saw that the humans were gaining ground, he started talking about covens and powers that had nothing to do with druidism. I don't know from whom he got those ideas, but we aren't talking about a nobody. I was only at the beginning so I learned something about this new magic, but soon I escaped along with others who didn't want to follow Gorak Tul."

"Do you know what has happened in the world lately? The war that is going on right now?"

"That we live here doesn't mean that we're clueless to what is happening in the world. The Alliance and the Horde trying to kill each other isn't new."

"And do you know that the old god N’Zoth originated all this?" Ulfar didn't answer. "I will take it as a no."

"Is N’Zoth real?"

"Of course."

"And what does Gorak Tul have to do with this?"

"N’Zoth used the Banshee Queen to start all of this. We know that someone very powerful, a spirit or necromancer, is an N'Zoth's ally and it's he who whispers to Sylvanas what she has to do. We believe that Gorak Tul knows who it is."

"If he can manipulate someone like Sylvanas we aren't talking about nobody. It's not a necromancer or spirit, it's an entity that was born in the Shadowlands. But it's something that is out of my knowledge, in fact, I think you have to be from there to know it."

"Then there's not much more to do..."

"When the coven fell..." Ulfar sighed. "Gorak Tul freed himself as Lady Waycrest was a vessel of power. That's why these kidnappings began shortly after, Gorak Tul wants to take everyone to the Blighted Lands. I imagine that you have had problems to overcome the magic barriers."

"How do you know?"

"Because I was still part of the tribe when the practices started and I know how complicated they can be. How have you destroyed the others?"

"They weren't strong barriers and I was able to do it with brute force." Wrathion crossed his arms. "But the one that remains in the forest is very complex."

"I may not know who taught those things to Gorak Tul, but I can teach you how to break those barriers, if you have patience."

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The sky was orange when they decided to get going. Ulfar taught both dragons that the barriers, although made of Drust magic, had an arcane origin. In terms everyone understood, an arcane magic spell was like weaving a bunch of threads following a pattern, and with that in mind, they just had to find the pattern the Drust used and untangle it. It wouldn't be a quick task, but at least they already had an idea to destroy those barriers much better. Wrathion asked at the end if there was a way to cross the portals to the Blighted Lands since he could never see beyond, but Ulfar told him that only the Drust crossed it, he didn't know another way.

After crossing the Azerite stand in the middle of the snowy mountain, they went down a hill that left them just where they could follow the path to Corlain or to the Crimson Forest. They had to walk fast, if it got dark they didn't want to risk seeing a monster in its full capacity. As the sun was already low, the forest trees didn't let too much light through, the gloomy aspect was present. Although if there was something that really instilled some fear, it was what they saw as they approached the center. A young-looking man was near the entrance to the tree's bark, but he was completely rooted and pierced by brambles brimming with Drust magic. When they approached the victim somewhat horrified, they realized that he had a message above his head.

"Leave while you can." Tess read. "How nice..."

"They must be mad." Mayla commented.

"If those idiots think they can scare me..." Wrathion said. "They're more dumbass than I thought."

Wrathion never cared about all the threats that were thrown to him, he was too used to them. The only thing that could intimidate the dragon was his talks with N’Zoth, that could scare him. Ebyssian went with Wrathion to the barrier on the bark of the tree, they were going to destroy it together. Their forearms were protected with rowan wood and proceeded. Now that Ulfar explained how it worked, they could see the labyrinth of the barrier. Wrathion now saw it much clearer, the arcane magic was more evident and he had to uncover some arcane lines to follow the path. Ebyssian was the one to move the lines to clear the way for Wrathion. It took longer than expected, but it was the safest way to do it. Wrathion began to see light at the end of the road as he turned a few lines that formed a gear. If he had to describe it somehow, he would have said that the end of the path was a support for a door that, when removed, would drop everything.

"Got you..." Wrathion murmured.

As soon as the support was removed, the barrier was shattered. It looked like translucent glass that disappeared as soon as it hit the ground. Wrathion wished he had known this before, everything would have been so much faster. Everyone entered the tree. Poorly constructed stairs went down into a tunnel. Some candles with blue flames lit the small area slightly until they reached the bottom. No candle was needed there, the portal’s light was bright enough. That small room was much larger than expected, although they couldn't imagine how the monster could get in there if it was as big as the other. The pool where the water was supposed to be was empty, so they could assume the monster was already developed.

"I think this time I'll try to see through the portal." Wrathion said.

"I think you should just focus on destroying it." Tess suggested. "I wouldn't like something to happen to you for playing with a portal and then we're left without your wisdom."

"Wisdom..." Wrathion muttered with a chuckle. "You could just say you would miss me."

"That too. And not just me."

Wrathion believed he understood who she meant. Anduin would miss him. But it wasn't his intention to go through the portal, he just wanted to look. There was no sign of any monster either and that worried them. The two dragons approached the portal.

"Try to keep it open for a few seconds before destroying it." Wrathion asked.

"Are you completely sure?"

Wrathion just nodded, he should try at least. With Ebyssian's help, he could keep it open longer since the other times it was too heavy for him. They thought they heard a noise from outside when they started to touch the portal, but they completely ignored it when Wrathion tried to peek through the portal. Ebyssian could keep it open for just a few seconds, magic that breaks space isn't easy to keep at bay, but Wrathion had a hard time seeing anything beyond. It was very dark, he didn't know if it was because the place was like this or that the magic prevented him from obvserving well. Gradually the vision cleared, but Wrathion only frowned. That place… it was exactly like the room they were already in.

Ebyssian couldn't keep the portal open any longer, they lacked the Drust magic to keep it open, so Wrathion helped him destroy it at once. The overload of magic blew it apart and again knocked everyone to the ground. Calia used the Light to illuminate the dark room.

"Could you see something?" Ebyssian asked.

"Yes, for a few seconds."

"And what does it look like?" Tess asked, curiously.

"It was the same." they all looked at him confused. "It was the same place, but much darker and gloomier."

"I don't get it..." said Baine.

"I think..." Wrathion meditated. "The Emerald Dream is a projection of reality, it's a big forest similar to the ones we have. If the Blighted Lands is an offshoot of the Emerald Dream, I suppose it must have the same patterns. Maybe that's the reason... That's why it's the same as reality."

It was just a theory since Wrathion didn't know how it really worked. They all decided to leave, they had to think how they would find the missing monster. It wasn't in that place and they didn't see it attack at any time. Wrathion was the only one who saw it in the forest, but never manifested itself again.

Dereck was the one ahead and the first to stop at the door. He stood there staring at something in the distance.

"Oh... Well..." said the spy.

Everyone hurried to see what was going on. The surprise was big, the monster they were looking for was there. It was much larger than the previous one and was more defined, perhaps the same size as Wrathion in his Draconic form. Before anyone dared to question what the hell it was doing there, the monster charged at them. They dodged aside and some fell to the ground. Wrathion was the first to move and climb on top of it, but the monster only needed a swipe to take him off. The dragon crashed into a tree, that being was quite strong and came to harm him. Then they realized that it didn't come alone. Lots of haunted servitors emerged from behind the trees to join the fight. Calia stayed behind them for not knowing how to fight well, but she tried to help with the Light to relieve pain, the others fought against the servitors using alchemical fire and Wrathion wanted to personally take care of the monster. Dereck was the only one who couldn't fight well due to the attack he received from the other monster, but Tess and Mayla covered his back. The number of haunted servitors started to be overwhelming, if they killed two, four more appeared. Wrathion began to tire of the situation, his duel against the monster was constantly being interrupted by the servitors and he had received blows from all sides. He was so overwhelmed that Ebyssian saved him, with an ax blow, from a servitor attack from behind.

"Tired?" Ebyssian asked.

"Yes, but not physical." Wrathion took a second to look at him. "Shall we burn them?"

Ebyssian looked at him as if saying 'good idea' and they both transformed into dragons. Haunted servitors burned easily in the flames, but the monster dodged attacks. The few haunted servitors that remained changed their tactics. Instead of spreading out, they concentrated on a single target, they went after Wrathion. The monster only focused on Ebyssian, probably because he followed the logic that the biggest was the strongest. Wrathion had to admit how annoying it was when all the haunted servitors rushed after him. They were so small in comparison, it was difficult for him to hit or burn them once they climbed onto his body and he could only move from one place to another hitting trees or rolling on the ground expecting them to be crushed. Ebyssian struggled with the monster's brute force and the Drust magic he used. At one point he tried to fly but the monster grabbed him by the tail and threw him against a rock. The old dragon was unable to get up in time for the next attack and was pushed away from the others. Wrathion realized that the monster was trying to isolate Ebyssian and he didn't like it, perhaps it had a plan, he should forget about the little ones as soon as possible and help him. Wrathion approached the rest and removed the few servitors that were there with some fire.

"Do you guys think you can deal with the rest of the servitors alone?" Wrathion asked

"They are not a challenge." Baine assured.

"I'll leave it to you then, I have to help Ebyssian."

Ebyssian screamed in pain at that moment because he received a bite from the monster. Wrathion saw that the monster tried to drag him away and ran towards them, but some servitors tried to cut his way. Wrathion spat out a stream of fire to try to get rid of the ones on the way and went looking for them.

Ebyssian was still being dragged to the ends of the forest. The bite was at the base of his right wing, a rather sensitive part for dragons. As soon as the monster pushed him into a tree, Drust magic began to be channeled. A faint bluish-green light of Drust magic appeared in one of its hands, and Ebyssian felt hypnotized, as if it was calling him. The monster raised its arm ready to strike him, but Wrathion appeared, jumping from a fallen log, and with his big mouth he caught the monster by the neck. Ebyssian came out of the little spell and was surprised to see how Wrathion dragged the beast almost to the seashore, the monster kept moaning in pain. The old dragon got up to help him and ripped off the enemy's arm, leaving it even more defenseless, and as soon as Wrathion stopped biting it, they both spat out a stream of fire at it. The monster turned into a fireball that slowly burned until it disappeared. Both dragons returned to their mortal forms as they watched the monster disappear like ash being dragged away by the wind. Ebyssian put a hand to the right side of his back where the wound was. A few drops of blood fell slowly.

"Does it hurt?" Wrathion asked

"A little, I will ask Calia for a cure with the Light." both were silent for a while. "What will we do now that there are no monsters?"

"I don't know, we have to investigate how to create a portal ourselves to be able to pass."

"And while we investigate, what do we do?"

"Survive, as always." Wrathion turned around, it was time to go with the others.

"Wrathion, stop." Wrathion looked back. "You and I have not spoken yet."

"About what?"

"Honestly, you are the first dragon I see." Wrathion raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Ebyssian nodded. "I suppose you are more tauren than dragon. What do you want to talk about anyway? You don't like me, you hate me for what I did."

"I don't hate you. It's not like I fancy you either, but I don't I hate you. I understand that what happened in Highmountain was a manipulation. But finding a dragon, and in addition someone from your own dragonflight, is rewarding. We are the only black dragons in the world, I think we should come to an agreement."

"Do you want us to get along just because we are black dragons?"

"I am your kin, the only one you will have. But if you want to ignore it, I will understand." Wrathion sighed long as he looked away.

"Do you know anything about the history of our flight?"

"Apart from what happened with Deathwing, little."

"Do you hate him?" Ebyssian blinked in confusion.

"Why should I?" Wrathion said nothing and only shrugged. "N’Zoth possessed him, it is not a destiny that could be avoided. Why waste time hating him?"

"And why not?"

"Because my heart doesn't harbor so much hate." Wrathion blinked somewhat surprised. "I can't spend my whole life like that, we have to accept it. Do you hate him for falling to N’Zoth?"

"It's not because of that." Wrathion sighed slowly. "It's not because he fell into madness, nor the way everyone treated me or looked at me for being his son... It’s because I hate that he’s part of me. I can never be good. That's why N’Zoth noticed me at the beginning, because we are the same." Ebyssian frowned slightly.

"But you are not him. You are very different."

"Based on what?"

"Because you help people." Wrathion looked at him frowning. "I know perfectly well that Deathwing tried to destroy the world, but you are trying to save it. And you also help others along the way, like the people of Drustvar. Or even us. What happens to us with Sylvanas doesn't really affect you, but here you are."

"Does that make me a better person?"

"More than what you believe." Wrathion looked at him with some doubt. "Or at least it's what they taught me as a child, it has value for me."

"And who taught you?"

"My family, Huln." Wrathion knew who he was, the hero of Highmountain. "He raised me and gave me a home, gave me values that I still have today. You said that I am more tauren than dragon, it is true, I am, and I will always be part of the Highmountain tauren. But it doesn't mean that I will deny my origins or who I really am. I was envious of you because you know much more about our dragonflight."

"Yeah... of course... Curiously, I'm the one who is envious."

"What? Why?"

"You have something that I never had and it's totally unknown for me. You have family and a place to return to, I don't."

Ebyssian looked at him surprised, not expecting Wrathion to open up a bit. It was something that used to sadden Wrathion, the fact that he never had a family and, due to the corruption of his dragonflight, he had to kill some of his brothers and sisters, all for the common good of Azeroth. He always felt lonely. He saw families from time to time and wondered what it must be like to have one and belong to a place. He found it hard to imagine what it would have been like if N’Zoth had never possessed Neltharion. Wrathion gave a little sigh and turned around, he shouldn't be thinking about that now, it was time to join the others.

"I can be your family." Ebyssian said, making Wrathion stop. "And if you don't have a place to return to, you can stay in Highmountain."

"Won't you blame me for what happened a year ago?"

"If it was an N’Zoth thing, I have nothing to do, there will only be justice with his death." Ebyssian started walking to leave. "But only if you really don't have any place to go back to."

Wrathion said nothing. He didn't know if Ebyssian said it because he was trying to be kind or because deep down he needed someone of his kind nearby so he wouldn't feel alone. However, if he considered it well, Wrathion did have a place to return to. No matter where his path went, he always came back to the same place over and over again, the only one he really wanted. He always came back to Anduin's side.

Both dragons found the rest near the big tree. They got rid of all the haunted servitors and were now healing superficial wounds. Mayla was the first to see them and ran to the aid of Ebyssian. Calia started to heal the bite left by the monster.

"Are they all dead?" Wrathion asked in general.

"You killed the vast majority." answered Tess. "But yes, the ones that were left have been eliminated. How about the monster?"

"Easy, despite the bite Ebyssian received, we calmly killed him with fire." Tess and Dereck looked at each other.

"Imagine having two black dragons in the team." Dereck said.

"Imagine the possibilities..." said Tess.

"What do we do now?" Calia asked. "Gorak Tul has not appeared and we have no information on how to find him. We also don't know what effect this will have on Drustvar."

"We will have to wait." Wrathion said, crossing his arms. "You said it, we don't know how to get to Gorak Tul. If he doesn't want to leave his cave we will have to investigate how to enter. We also have to see how things will develop around here. Apart from that, we have to solve a small problem."

"Which one?" Dereck asked.

"The problem they have." he pointed to the tauren. "You said that Sylvanas seems to suspect you. If you come back with your hands empty now and say you won't return to Drustvar for a while, do you think she'll be more or less suspicious of you?"

"Probably more." Baine replied. "He is right, we must think of something."

"Calia," she looked at Wrathion. "are you sure you don't know of somewhere in Drustvar that the Horde could attack without many casualties so Sylvanas won't suspect?"

"Wait a moment." Baine cut. "You are all helping us to solve this problem and in exchange I will bring a looting group? I cannot do that with all the kindness you have given us."

"Listen to me, lil horns, things don't work like that." Wrathion sighed. "You have to cover your backs before Sylvanas or this is all definitely over for you."

"I think I know of a place that may work." Calia said. "Chandlery Wharf is an option. It is a dock for merchants that was left empty by pirates. It is a strategic point and there aren't too many people right now, the few that are there will run away if they see the Horde."

"Is that dock in the north where Taelia picked us up?" Calia nodded. "It can work." Wrathion looked at Baine again. "Is it enough?"

"I think I can do something with it." Baine replied.

Although they weren't excited about it, they had to keep appearances in front of Sylvanas. They were playing with fire just to be there, if they could cover themselves with a successful looting Sylvanas might not notice their comings and goings with such mistrust. If that was settled, only the big question remained: How could they find Gorak Tul? Although Wrathion tried to see through the portal, it was almost impossible, the portal itself rejected him. They needed some hint on how to enter the Blighted Lands, otherwise they could only wait for a mistake or for Gorak Tul to cross the border again and set foot on Azeroth.

They were in a big dead end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was always interested in how Wrathion would feel when he saw that he had no family and had to kill some, poor boy :'( Fortunately Anduin represents his home.  
The next chapters there will be more Wranduin return. Kudos and comments are welcomed and the only food I have, thanks :)  
Until next time.


	37. Visit to Arathi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. THE BOYS ARE BACK. This chapter seems like nothing truly happened, I suppose, but there are things that must be told.  
I hope you like it, and sorry for grammar mistakes.

“_You have something you need within your reach. But to claim it, you must lose something very important.”_

Anduin woke up. The dreams he had were getting more and more confusing. The voice spoke to him much more frequently, but it spoke with enigmas that he couldn't understand. He felt much better now, after almost five days since the monsters were eliminated, Anduin recovered fully. But since they were in a dead end, they couldn't move forward. They didn't know how to get to Gorak Tul, there was no sign of either Azshara or N’Zoth. In these dead times, the anxiety increased.

Wrathion had much more correspondence with Ebyssian. Aside from telling each other what was happening on each side and greeting everyone, they also talked about their race. In the end Wrathion gave in to it, there were many things he wanted to tell him about his flight or dragons in general, it made him feel a little less isolated as a dragon. There were many letters when Baine's looting happened. In the end they looted the Chandlery Wharf as suggested. There were no casualties from either side, they only occupied the dock. Jaina had no time to solve that looting as usual as the problems in Stormsong Valley continued.

Anduin had breakfast with all the Greymane as usual, but even though they had quite a lively conversation, he was completely absent. He was thinking about his dreams lately and what the voice was saying. He knew he shouldn't obsess with it, but the intrigue that those words produced in him had him well tied. Anduin couldn't guess what he needed as much as he didn't know what he should lose. He came out of his thoughts as soon as Tess brushed a lock of his hair.

"Your hair is so long already." she said. "You won't cut it this time?"

"If I'm honest, going to the hairdresser is such a drag." Genn clicked his tongue.

"You just have to sit down for a few minutes on a chair." said the old wolf.

"But I have to cross an entire district to have a haircut." Tess pointed at him accusingly while looking at her father.

"Are you listening to him?" Tess took a napkin and made a ball with it and threw it to Anduin. "Lazy."

"Changing the subject." Genn said. "Anduin, do you remember that you recently said that it would be a good idea to visit Tyrande in Arathi?" Anduin nodded. "Well, I planned to go today."

"Seriously?" Anduin raised his eyebrows.

"I also have to pay a visit to my people apart from greeting Tyrande. The plan is to go to Stormwind, take the tram to Ironforge, and continue in a carriage to Arathi. If you want to come you have to prepare now. If you don't want to, then another day."

"The truth is that I prefer to go now."

It was a very good idea. It wasn't just visiting Tyrande, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, or seeing Arathi, the new territory of the Alliance. It was an opportunity to get out of the small routine that had been established in Kul Tiras, he needed a small change of airs.

While they waited for a ship to take them, Anduin looked for Wrathion. If they find Malfurion in Arathi, they could ask him about the Emerald Dream and perhaps somehow he would give them a clue as how to enter the Blighted Lands. Anduin found the dragon lying on the grass in the gardens around the Proudmoore Keep. Wrathion waved when he noticed his presence and Anduin smiled at him.

"I had a great idea." said the young king.

"Oh, enlighten me."

"Today I will go to Arathi." Wrathion raised an eyebrow. "Genn wants to visit his people and see Tyrande on the way. I thought about going too because surely we will talk about some things, including the situation in the Alliance. Also, if I find Malfurion, perhaps he can give some clue on how to enter the Blighted Lands if it has patterns similar to the Emerald Dream."

"Well, you can try it." when Wrathion looked at him he realized that Anduin was smiling at him widely. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Do you want to come?"

"What?" Wrathion chuckled lightly. "But these kinds of visits are Alliance stuff, I don't belong there. And don't say it's because of the Blighted Lands because they can explain it to you and then you can tell me."

"But I would like you to come. It's been a long time since we've gone together to investigate or just go somewhere, I was sick."

"But it was for a week or so."

"Well, it was eternal, it seemed like a whole month actually." Wrathion sighed with a wry smile. Anduin lightly tugged the dragon's scarf. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"The things I do for you sometimes..."

"It's not like I'm torturing you!"

Going with Anduin anywhere was never a torture, but the dragon loved to tease him. He was delighted that Anduin asked him these things, he shared time with him more and more. He wasn't quite sure if Malfurion could clarify anything with his knowledge of the Emerald Dream. The two realms had very similar patterns, but if you wanted to access the Emerald Dream you had to make a spiritual projection while for the Blighted Lands you entered only by portal, and that's precisely what Wrathion was most interested in.

After almost half an hour, they sailed to Stormwind. They were accompanied by a couple of Genn's men who wanted to see their families. Anduin was concerned about stepping in the city. Although he wrote letters to Muradin and told him exactly what to do with the problems that arose, he knew that many people would assault him as soon as they set foot in the city. Nobles, church, workers... it wasn't enough for any of them to receive letters with indications or solutions to their problems, they wanted to complain to Anduin directly. It's been a little while since the last time he was in Stormwind so they would ask for his head. Luckily, Genn told him that the tram was waiting for them to go directly to Ironforge, so Anduin thought that he might run away before bumping into someone.

The trip was short thanks to favorable winds and tides. Stormwind stood imposing as usual. It was a very good day and Anduin felt a rush of nostalgia when he saw it. Sometimes he missed his city, but as soon as he realized that he was the king, he felt the necessity to flee. Once they arrived, many people bowed and greeted both Anduin and Genn with the utmost respect. It looked like there was a major display as they crossed the districts considering all the people who came by to say hello, the crowd was somewhat stifling. Wrathion was the one who had the worst time, because he was surrounded by so many people and that more than half of them gave him an ugly look. The crowd cleared as they crossed The Dwarven District and saw the entrance to the tram. Anduin had to stop before entering to say goodbye to his people and try to get rid of those who kept complaining about taxes and the war. The excuse that the trip to Arathi was going to be long could speed up the process a little. They entered through the tunnel that led underground and immediately saw the tram waiting. Anduin sighed exhausted when he was finally alone with his companions. Genn and his men stayed in the middle car to chat and Wrathion accompanied Anduin in the first. The tram started to move after a few minutes and led them through a lighted tunnel.

"Has it been as horrible for you as it has been for me?" Anduin asked him. Wrathion smirked at him ironically. "I'm sorry they look at you like that, I don't like it at all."

"What am i going to do? I can only ignore it."

"Yeah, but I don't like it." the tram took a climb. "I hope Tyrande knows something about Turalyon and Alleria."

"Why?"

"I haven't heard from them in a long time. I'm concerned with what they are possibly doing... they were the ones who wanted war."

"Maybe they are on vacation at the beach." Wrathion said, jokingly. The tram passed to the area where they were under the sea. Instead of being in a tunnel made of metal, this one was made of glass and they could see all the marine fauna above them. "The truth is that this Gnomic creation surprises me."

"Right, you had never used the tram." Anduin hit the dragon's shoulder with his fist soflty. "Finally something I knew and you didn't."

"I didn't know we had a competition. Do you want me to continue?"

Wrathion began to count with his fingers as he murmured jokingly all the places he had been and knew Anduin had not. The young king took it with humor, he didn't mind being ignorant in that conversation as it reminded him when they shared stories in Pandaria, it was a warm feeling more than welcome. Although the journey lasted almost two hours, it was enjoyable because they talked all the time about locations. But when Wrathion told him about Sholazar Basin, Anduin commented that he once sent scouts there, but never returned. Wrathion recalled that he ran into some humans there a long time ago and knew well the incident he had with them, but it was best not to tell Anduin.

When they left the tram and the station, the temperature suddenly changed. Ironforge was a city protected by a stone wall, and the lava that could be redirected was used for heating and blacksmithing purposes. That was the most famous attraction in Ironforge, the help it provided with forges in times of war was in big demand. They wouldn't be there long, the carriage that would take them through Dun Morogh, Loch Modan and The Wetlands was ready and the trip was long. Some dwarves asked if they wanted to bring a large escort for the carriage, but the few people they were were enough, especially with Wrathion.

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Wrathion had to wake Anduin up with a few taps on the shoulder. There were a few stops along the way. One was in Thelsamar in the middle of the night to sleep and two more through Wetlands camps to eat something and sleep again. For the last part of the road, Anduin ended up taking a nap just like Genn despite the fact that it was already getting late. They were crossing the Thandol Span when they woke up. Genn decided to get out of the carriage to stretch his legs the rest of the way. Anduin stared through the glass at the landscape. Although Arathi was quite green, there were still some smashed catapults or holes in the ground. He was able to quickly spot farm fields and made him smile. The wall of what was the first capital in human history was seen in the distance. Stromgarde was rebuilt after years thanks to the efforts of the elves. They welcomed them with open arms in the city. The Gilneans who happened to be there were glad to see their monarch and the rest smiled at seeing Anduin after so long. Genn first went to visit his people first, the Gilneans had taken over the western part of Arathi and used to say that it was a good hunting area. The old wolf said goodbye temporarily and would join them later. Anduin waited with Wrathion for a few minutes until Tyrande was notified of the arrival. The young king saw the priestess approach with much better appearance than he remembered. She was wearing a classic Kaldorei silk dress and she had her hair tied back. The wound on her head was peeking out slightly on one side with tiny purple lines. Tyrande shook his hand as soon as she was in front of the young king.

"Anduin." the young king smiled at her with some surprise, it wasn't so usual for Tyrande to call him by his name.

"Tyrande, I'm so glad to see you. How have you been?"

"Good in general. Some problems here and there, but everything is okay."

"Great. Genn went to visit his people first, he will join later."

"And your companion?" she said looking at Wrathion. "I didn't expect him."

"He's here because... we have to talk about something very specific." Tyrande raised an eyebrow. "By the way, is Malfurion around here?"

"He's with the druids, but he can come if necessary."

"I'd be interested."

Tyrande invited both of them inside the small keep and led them into a small room with a large table. They waited awhile for the servants to bring some food and drinks because it was time for dinner. When the three of them were alone, they began to exchange news. The most interesting thing Anduin could tell was about the lootings the Horde used to do and how they were contained. He also commented a bit on the kidnappings due to the Drust and the defeat of the monsters. The rest was only to discuss economic and military problems in the Alliance. Tyrande explained how things went in Arathi, elves and Gilneans settling in and the arrival of the Draenei later. She explained how the three factions were organized to guard the three entrances into Arathi. The Kaldoreis guarded the Thandol Span and the Draenei were in charge of guarding the tunnel in the north that connected Arathi with The Hinterlands. The Gilneans chose the Thoradin’s Wall to not let anything come from the Hillsbrad Foothills, but she knew the real reason was because many crossed the area to see the Greymane Wall, it was the closest they were to their true home.

"Maybe..." Tyrande said. "The only favor I would ask for is more tools for the field. We lack them and druidism is not good for some specific things."

"Sure, no problem. As soon as I get back to Stormwind I'll order it" Anduin took a drink of water. "I was going to ask you... Do you know anything about Turalyon and Alleria? I haven't heard from them in weeks and I'm concerned." Tyrande shifted a little uneasily on the chair.

"Well... They are in the Ghostlands, near the border of the Eversong Woods."

"What are they doing there?"

"You won't like it, but they are killing blood elves." Anduin swore that he had turned pale upon hearing that.

"What!? How!? Since when?"

"I don't know exactly when it started. Occasionally soldiers are brought in for that crusade. I guess Alleria is still somewhat resentful for being kicked out of Silvermoon. I don't think it was hard for her to convince Turalyon because they are murdering Horde people, civilians or warriors."

"Behind everyone's back and killing anyone? That could perfectly be a war crime, they aren't authorized for something like that... And why haven't you told me through a letter before?" Tyrande tilted her head very slightly and her face only said one thing. "You didn't know..."

"I found out yesterday."

"I suppose that clarifies why the number of available soldiers had decreased. I thought it was due to casualties but... this is much worse." Anduin sighed. "It really amazes me, what am I going to do with them now?"

"First, all leaders must know, then we will judge them." Tyrande took a small sip of water. "Any discovery in the Horde's plans?"

"Apart from looting? No. Just some strange intrusion into the Stormsong Valley, but we don't know any of their objectives."

"They're probably preparing something big, you have to be alert. They can be very treacherous."

"I suppose you haven't changed your mind on that matter."

"I still want them to pay, we all want it. How do you want me to change my mind, Anduin?"

"No, no, don't get me wrong. I know it's not something you will forget, I understand. I just thought that since now you found this home then..."

"This is only provisional. Revenge is still the goal."

"Can I give you an advice?" Wrathion asked. Tyrande just looked at him expectantly. "If you want revenge, make sure it's for ensuring a better future."

"For what other reason I was going to do it?" asked the elf, surprised.

"It's obvious that you take it very personally." Tyrande raised an eyebrow. "And I'll tell you something else. If you keep taking it like this, even if you literally have all the Horde members dead at your feet, you won't get any satisfaction. You will only feel an emptiness that won't be filled with anything. I assure you."

"You really believe that?"

"I don’t believe it, I know. It's just an advice, do what you want with it."

Anduin had to think twice before saying anything, but when he made up his mind, the door opened. Genn entered the room happily. He raised his arms slightly as he walked towards Tyrande, as if he wanted to give her a friendly hug. The elf got up from her chair and cut the remaining distance. They shook hands with a smile.

"Tyrande!" exclaimed the old wolf. "I see you good!"

"Genn, I see you very energetic."

"My people have given me the energy. I hope they are not a problem for you."

"Not at all, they help a lot."

Genn took a seat next to Anduin and filled a glass with wine. First they told him about the favor Tyrande asked for, which didn't seem like much of a problem from the wolf's point of view, but as soon as they told him about Turalyon and Alleria, he was stunned. It wasn't something Genn expected from them and he agreed that it could be taken as a war crime. He also added that the Sin’dorei are somewhat isolated from the rest of the Horde, just as the Draenei were when the blockade happened, so both leaders probably thought that the Horde wouldn't arrive in time to react to the attack and send reinforcements. Still, he agreed that they should have proposed it and not carried it in secret.

"Really, this war has aged me a couple of years." Genn said. "They are relatively new to this Alliance, but make decisions like that? Bad business, there is more and more division. We have to do something."

"And what do I say?" Anduin asked. "Do I gather and lock them at home? Whatever I do, they will ignore me and they will continue with their affairs."

"Not you alone, we must do it together." Anduin avoided answering. He wasn't sure that they would change something anyway. "By the way, my boys told me news that will interest you." Genn pointed to both Anduin and Wrathion. "It turns out they've finally sighted nagas." Wrathion, for the first time, paid attention.

"Where?" asked the dragon.

"Maybe it surprises you, but it was in the Broken Isles." Anduin frowned.

"In the Broken Isles? But it's one of the few quiet places."

"I was also surprised. They mostly saw them off shore and seemed to be looking for something. But I don't understand what they may be looking for out there."

"Can you think of something? Anything?" Anduin said. Tyrande scratched with one finger near the wound and meditated for a few seconds.

"The only thing I can think of," the elf began. "is that Dalaran is still there. As there are still remnants of Fel energy, the Kirin Tor decided to stay until the islands were completely clean. Other than that, there is nothing else."

"We have to be careful." Wrathion said. "This type of small actions brings something worse, N’Zoth doesn't do things for fun."

"I'll send someone to the Broken Isles, in case something happens." Genn said.

They had to be careful. The nagas have been hiding for months, if they show themselves now in an area that apparently was fine, it wouldn't be for simple tourism. They talked for a long time about the problems in the Alliance, especially the divisions that were created, and avoiding topics that could cause some stupid discussion, such as talking about whether they should take revenge on the Horde.

There was only one setback. Malfurion was unable to attend them today because he was in the Emerald Dream instructing new druids. As it was getting very late, Tyrande offered them rooms to sleep. Genn decided to go with his people. Apparently they tempted him with a hunt and since there was a full moon today, he couldn't refuse.

Stormgarde's keep wasn't as big as the one in Stormwind, the rooms were more sparse and small. But Anduin didn't mind it. He said he would share a room with Wrathion, it wasn't the first time and it didn't bother him. Anduin only found a slight inconvenience when he went to sleep, the Kaldorei blankets were very thin and it was cold in Arathi during the night. Wrathion didn't mind something like that, he lay down with his hands behind his head and waited for the sun to rise again. Anduin took all the blankets he found, but when he got into bed he realized that they weren't enough. Using silk to cover up wasn't a good idea, why did the Kaldorei use that? Anduin couldn’t avoid his teeth chattering from the cold after a few seconds. Wrathion looked at him when he heard it.

"Are you cold?" asked the dragon.

"A little, these blankets don't do much."

"It's not good that you sleep in cold environments if you have just been sick."

"I haven't found anything else."

"Come." Anduin looked at him confused. "Come closer."

Anduin hesitated for a second if that would be enough, but as soon as he got closer and felt Wrathion's warmth, he soon curled up next to him. Sometimes human warmth wasn't enough, but Wrathion's was much more pleasant and effective.

"It must be nice never getting cold." Anduin said half asleep. "It's like being your own sun."

"But that deprives me of knowing the sensation of the cold. If you want..." as Anduin was to his left, Wrathion moved his arm to half surround him and place his hand on the young king's back to distribute more heat. He did it with a bit of insecurity since he didn't know how Anduin would take it, but he settled in. "Better?"

"Yes, it's fine." Wrathion was relieved. There were many minutes of silence where the dragon believed Anduin had fallen asleep. Just as he was going to move his other arm to take advantage and cuddle him at last, the young king moved. "Shall we play?"

"Huh? To what?"

"To the questions." Wrathion almost laughed out loud.

"Did you hear your own voice? I think you will fall asleep in the middle of a sentence."

"Okay, you start." Wrathion sighed and his laughter escaped. It took him a few seconds to think.

"Alright. Is there someone you appreciate a lot but that person doesn't even imagine it because you never told them or hinted it?" Anduin thought about it for a long time.

"I think everyone I know doesn't know how much I appreciate them. I never say it."

"Are you ashamed of saying it?"

"No, I just never say these things, but..." Anduin yawned. "I think right now one of the ones I appreciate the most and he doesn't imagine is Genn."

"Why?"

"He has helped me more than he thinks and... even if we don't coincide many times he always cares about me. He has become like family without me realizing it and I appreciate him very much. I can always count on him."

"Well, thanks the titans knowing that the Alliance is shattered from what I've heard." Anduin smiled and gave him a weak tap with a finger. "Your turn." Anduin was in absolute silence for a while, so much that the dragon thought he was asleep.

"Wrathion..." Anduin seemed to hesitate. "When all this is over... What will you do? Where will you go?" Wrathion kept quiet and scratched his head with his free hand. That question was somewhat uncomfortable for him, although he was very clear on what to do now, he would be very lost when it was over.

"Well... I would be lying if I said I haven't thought about it, but... If I'm honest, I don't know what I would do. I guess I would go away and get lost somewhere."

"Why?"

"It's just... well, it's not like I really have anywhere to go." Anduin settled himself, placing his hand on the dragon's chest and resting his chin on his shoulder.

"You can stay in Stormwind if you want." Wrathion glanced sidelong. "It wouldn't be hard for me to find a place where you could stay and we could also continue to see each other."

"It's not that I want to reject you, seriously, but I don't know if I want to go out and see that everyone is giving me ugly looks for being who I am." Anduin raised his head with a frown. "Don't tell me you believe nobody would do that." the young king dropped his head and Wrathion sighed. "It doesn't matter, there's still a long way to go before all this ends so let's not think about it." there was another silence for a long time.

"I would like you to stay close." he said, half sleepy. "You're one of the few people with whom I'm comfortable."

A smile escaped from Wrathion, but it was a sad one. He would stay in Stormwind for a while if it really happened. The problem came with Anduin. The most selfish and jealous side appears with him, there are things that he couldn't bear. As much as he loved him, he knew they could never be together, he could accept it. But in time, Anduin would probably be forced to marry someone and have an heir. Wrathion wouldn't bear to see him every day with someone else, he wouldn't feel good, no matter how selfish the thought was.

Wrathion knew that Anduin fell asleep when he began to breathe slowly and deeply, so he took the opportunity to put his arms around him and hug him freely.

"I'm sorry, but I would be so jealous..." he whispered.

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Anduin had a nightmare again. Although he couldn't remember it, he knew he had one thanks to the sensation he had when he woke up, the restlessness was there.

"Nightmare?" Wrathion asked when Anduin stopped rubbing his eyes.

"How do you know?"

"You moved a lot and made weird faces." Anduin scratched his head.

"I can't even remember what I dreamed of. Sorry if I woke you up."

"You know I don't sleep."

Anduin came to envy him, if only he could bear staying awake for so long then he wouldn't have this bad feeling. Once both dressed up, they went outside to look for Tyrande. Elves stopped them to offer a light breakfast as they searched for Tyrande for them. Anduin ate everything he could, elf's food wasn't something he could usually enjoy but Wrathion didn't eat too much as usual. Anduin ended up having breakfast for both of them. Despite the time they were having breakfast, they were informed that Tyrande would take a while to arrive. Anduin decided to go for a walk with Wrathion. They didn't leave Stromgarde, they didn't want to be away if Tyrande returned. The young king did the good deed of the day by speaking to both peoples, Kaldorei and Gilneans shared their regrets but also their hopes of finding an opportunity in Arathi. Wrathion didn't participate at all and just stared at how Anduin did the good deed. The young king was quite adorable when he paid so much attention to people and stopped to listen to their stories. Wrathion never understood why someone would do that if it wasn't out of obligation, but he knew Anduin was a pure light capable of taking an interest in it.

After an hour, they were called to meet Tyrande at last in the same room they occupied yesterday. To Anduin's surprise, Malfurion was also there. The Archdruid had stopped teaching to new druids just to attend them and the young king immediately apologized for the inconvenience. The four of them sat at the table.

"Not a nuisance, King Wrynn." Malfurion said kindly. "If it is to help understand something that is in my field of knowledge, I am happy to help."

"Still, sorry to interrupt the training, Archdruid." Anduin apologized again.

"How can I help you?"

"It has to do with a small mission that we currently have. At Jaina's request, we are helping Drustvar against the Drust. So far we have been doing well, but we have hit a wall. We try to reach their leader, Gorak Tul, but he doesn’t want to leave the Blighted Lands. So what we want is to know how to get in there."

"I understand. But I don't see where I can help you."

"It's that the Blighted Lands has its roots from the Emerald Dream and are similar, so it seemed a good idea to ask the expert on the matter."

"What exactly do you need to know?"

"Well, it's that…" Anduin suddenly couldn't continue and looked at Wrathion for help. The dragon understood that he should continue the conversation, Anduin only did the formalities for him.

"The similarities aren't the problem." Wrathion said. "It's because we don't know how to enter the Blighted Lands. You access the Emerald Dream by spiritual projection. But you enter the Blighted Lands through a portal."

"How is that portal?" asked curious Malfurion. "If you have seen it."

"If closed, it's a thin vertical line of light. We tried to open the portal several times, but it's impossible to go through it. The last one I saw let me see very little on the other side. It was just a reflection of where I was, but darker."

"If it's similar to the Emerald Dream, it's normal that it's a copy of our reality. The Titans, even if they are the most powerful beings we know, needed references from the real world to create other realities."

"I understand that. But what I need is to get in there..." Malfurion scratched his beard.

"Not everyone can enter the Emerald Dream, if any of you tried it right now you couldn't. When I entered the first few times it was complicated, it was as if it rejected me because it detected that I didn't belong there. With training and time the Dream accepted me. Maybe... it's the same in that reality."

"How? Do we have to train to use it?"

"Or learn how it can be fooled. That's the thing about portals, they are susceptible to the deceits."

"And how do we deceive a portal?" Malfurion thought about it.

"Make it believe that you are a Drust. Do you know how to capture magic?" Wrathion nodded. "If you can capture it, you could pretend to be one of them and enter." Wrathion ran his hand through his hair quickly.

"And where do I find Drust magic to capture it..."

"Maybe there is something left in Drustvar." Anduin suggested. "The manor is still infected."

"There is still a problem, there are no portals, we destroyed them. Where do we get one?"

"A portal shouldn't be difficult to create." Malfurion said. "You know how to use arcane magic, you should be able to create these portals, you just need to know the pattern it uses."

"You make it sound simple, but..." Wrathion rested his elbow on the armrest of the chair and scratched his head.

"I don't know how to help more. I have tried to project the similarities, but I can't tell more."

"At least we know now about capturing magic, right?" Anduin said looking at Wrathion. "We can always do tests with it."

Wrathion only sighed lightly, it's not as if he was amused by this type of practises since it used to leave one quite tired, but he didn't see much more solution if Gorak Tul didn't want to show himself. Anduin spoke with them a few more minutes about economic or primary resource problems as most of the rulers used to do in the Alliance. That little meeting didn't last long, everyone had to go back to their personal tasks. If Genn shows up at some point they would probably leave Arathi to get back to routine.

Anduin took the opportunity to take a last walk, but this time he left Stromgarde and walked towards Ar’gorok accompanied by Wrathion. Arathi had quite a few green meadows and the wind hardly blew, nor was there any noise from any kind of animal. They saw the Horde's garrison, now destroyed, after some minutes in the distance. Tyrande had commented that she didn't quite know what to do with that place. As all attention was focused on rebuilding Stromgarde, some parts of Arathi were still in ruins. Wrathion suddenly stepped in front of Anduin protectively as he looked at some missing spot to the left of their position, but it only took him a second to calm down and sigh quietly. Anduin was slow to realize that Genn, along with other worgen, were running towards them. Genn returned to his human form when he was two steps from them and pointed at Wrathion.

"If you hadn't realized that we were close I would have tried to scare you." he said happily.

"Very kind of you." Anduin said, jokingly.

"What are you doing over here? And alone, even if he's a dragon."

"We were making time until you came back, I wanted to see the territory a bit."

"Do you want to go back to Kul Tiras now?"

"We have some clues to follow and the trip isn't exactly short."

"Very well. I also did what I should so I will see if we have a free carriage." Genn looked at his people. "Thanks for the hunt, guys. It was perfect."

"It was an honor, my king." replied one who seemed quite young. "I didn't expect you to have so much energy considering that you already have…" Genn frowned slightly, waiting for him to finish the sentence. There was some fear in the young worgen’s eyes. "Well, I mean that… considering your age…"

Genn's eyebrows went up so high that it looked like his forehead was stretching. The rest began to move towards Stromgarde and prepare for the return trip while Genn made an immobilization key to the poor young worgen while shouting; 'Who are you calling old man?'

At Stromgarde, Anduin, Genn and Tyrande said goodbye to each other. Letters would still be the most viable option to communicate whatever they need: sightings, needs, or leaders doing things they shouldn't.

"Don't hesitate to contact me also if there is any fight against the Horde." Tyrande said.

"I don't think anything will happen for a while." Anduin assured. "I think we're all quite busy."

"I'm saying just in case, I still have an arrow for Sylvanas." Anduin looked at her a little sad. "And leave that sad look every time we talk about this. I will not be satisfied until she is dead."

"Do you just want to kill her?" Wrathion asked, Tyrande nodded seriously and the dragon took a noisy deep breath. "Do you know why N’Zoth's main option is never to kill?"

"Does he have preferences?"

"Of course, if someone annoys, dislikes or makes him angry, he never opt for murder. No, he likes to torture his victims, he wants to harm the mind, so they will know that they should never have crossed his path. Because it will always hurt more if they do something to you mentally. Killing is too easy, Tyrande, and I don't think Sylvanas deserves only to die for what she did."

Tyrande seemed to hesitate for a second. She knew he was saying that because of what she said about revenge. Something like the Teldrassil genocide couldn't be settled with a death and she certainly didn't want to simplify this whole matter with a mere revenge. They didn't talk about it anymore and after the formal goodbyes and shaking hands, the journey back started.

Genn happily explained to Anduin that he had been in the Silverpine Forest that night and, after several years, he had finally seen The Greymane Wall again. He was almost thrilled to see the wall again although he couldn't even get close to the territory. It was the closest he had been to Gilneas since the fall and Genn explained to Anduin in such an enthusiastic way that he saw the possibility of recovering the city more close. The young king was enthusiastic about the idea, he would do everything in his power to help that cause. During all this time they weren't able to reconquest Gilneas because the Forsaken were constantly making the place uninhabitable, but nowadays they advanced in the investigation to remove the Plague and the nearby areas were no longer occupied by the Horde.

Yes, now that Arathi seemed to be stabilizing, perhaps they could start working on Gilneas.

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They reached Boralus after four and a half days. Between a small snowstorm in Dun Morogh and that they had to spend almost an entire day in Stormwind because the ships were unable to set sail due to rough seas, the trip took them longer than imagined. At least nothing didn't seem to be out of place, nothing serious had happened in the absence. Neither the Horde made movements, nor was there anything regarding the Drust or N’Zoth, everything was still suspiciously silent.

The first thing Anduin did when he stepped on Boralus was to look for Mathias in the small spot for the SI:7. With a rather quick salute, the young king told him about Turalyon and Alleria. The face of the Spymaster, for the first time in a long time, went completely blank. He didn't expect such news at all, let alone from Alliance leaders. Anduin asked him to spy on them. He needed confirmations and trusted people to tell him exactly what they were doing and then have a good base when it came to accusing them. Mathias agreed, something like that required a well-done investigation. Anduin also had to consider who to tell this to. Although he didn't want to admit it, there was mistrust and the relationship between leaders wasn't at its best. He didn't want to tell Jaina, she would probably join them. Nor to Moira for the same reasons. Velen and Mekkatorque perhaps would understand the seriousness of the matter. Anduin sighed wearily.

"Don't let those idiots discourage you." Wrathion said. "They are only two old people who have spent their whole lives in a war where only they commanded, I don't think they know what it is to have more leaders." Anduin almost laughed, but only smiled.

"I wish it was just that. But thanks for trying to cheer me up." Wrathion smiled at him. "I don't know, bad business if this continues." Anduin covered his mouth with his hands and coughed. "Of 'Alliance' we have less and less actually." the young king's cough escaped before putting his hand on his mouth.

"And that cough?"

"Nothing, something in the air makes me cough."

"You aren't getting sick again, are you?"

"Not at all! It was just a little cough." Wrathion looked at him with little conviction. He could see that Anduin wasn't wearing warm clothes, his neck was exposed.

"Really…" Wrathion took off the scarf he was always wearing. "As sloppy as you really are," Wrathion placed the scarf around Anduin's neck. "I wouldn't want you to fall sick again."

"Well," Anduin shrugged. "I wasn't going to relapse, I assure you."

Suddenly the young king didn't know what to say. The texture of the scarf was warm because Wrathion was the one wearing it and, for some reason, he felt a little embarrassed when he realized it. But he only had to look away for a second to forget everything because he saw someone running towards him. Anduin was a little surprised to see that Taelia was receiving him, but judging the face she had, she seemed distressed. Taelia had to take a breath before saying anything.

"Anduin, hello. They told me that you had arrived." she said.

"That's right, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Not too much. I need... I need a big favor."

"No problem, what do you need?"

"Is just..." Taelia hesitated. "Look, really, I wouldn't ask you this if it wasn't really important. But I need money."

"For what?"

"It's for Cyrus." Anduin just frowned confused. "They have detained him and I need money to pay the bail or they're going to put him in jail." The young king blinked completely confused.

"WHAT?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once dreamed of Wrathion giving his scarf to Anduin and it was very cute to me :3 Caring boyfriend. I have to keep pushing the ship.  
See you in the next one.


	38. Follow the fish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Another unnecessary-necessary chapter because I need to tell a few details, I know it's boring, don't worry. The worst is the next chapter which will be like 10,000 words and it took me a long time, but it will be the last of this adventure with the Drust.  
Try to enjoy and sorry for grammar mistakes.

Anduin didn't expect to find that situation in Boralus. The Harbormaster detained because of some stupid law in Kul Tiras. The accusation was false, he was allegedly detained for ‘indecent exposure’ but Taelia knew it wasn't true. She explained to them, as they went to the barracks where Cyrus was being held, that there was unfortunately some corruption in the laws when it came to arresting someone. Officers were supposed to earn prestige every time they successfully arrested someone, so they sometimes put up charades to blame and arrest someone innocent. Many citizens didn't know that, but those who did tried to change these laws. The barracks where they detained people before sending them to Tol Dagor was in the Mariner’s Row and at that time there weren't many people. Anduin brought a large sum of gold just in case, he wasn't sure how high the bails were in Kul Tiras.

They entered the almost empty barracks. Wrathion stood waiting at the door while Anduin and Taelia walked towards a table where a somewhat older man with glasses was reading a book.

"Excuse me," started Taelia. "we are here to see Cyrus Crestfall. They arrested him a few hours ago." the man quickly reviewed some notes on his right hand.

"You have to wait. Crestfall is still under interrogation."

"Well we are here to get him out of this. Could you just tell us how much is bail in the end?" the man checked the notes again.

"Six thousand gold." Taelia opened her mouth, surprised.

"Six thousand?" she repeated somewhat indignantly. "They arrested him for..." Taelia lowered her voice. "They arrested him for a non-existent exhibition, that doesn't cost six thousand and less if it's the first time."

"Here it says that he has been previously detained."

"For what?"

"Possession of illegal substance."

Taelia closed her eyes wearily and sighed. She had to walk away from the man for a moment while rubbing her eyes with one hand. Anduin followed her in confusion and although she seemed almost defeated he had to ask.

"What's this all about?" he asked a little hesitantly. "Has he been arrested before?" Taelia raised her hands slightly to stop him.

"It was five years ago and the charges were removed. It's because he has to take..." Taelia began to doubt a lot, but Anduin had to know.

"I can pay that bail, six thousand is nothing to me. But I want to know the truth."

"Shiagua, he has to take Shiagua." Anduin frowned. He knew it was a medicinal plant, it was used to counteract a common sexually transmitted disease, especially between same-sex relationships. "Don't judge him, please. It's very common among sailors who have been out on the sea for a long time and Cyrus has been for a long time."

"Is Shiagua illegal in Kul Tiras?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"How strange, it's medicinal. In the Eastern Kingdoms it's prescribed without any problem."

"It's because many become addicted. But Cyrus takes it for health, I swear. And please, don't judge him by how they transmit this disease."

"One moment, stop. I think we aren't worried about the same thing. I'm only intrigued by the fact that this plant is illegal, not the other." Taelia looked surprised.

"It really doesn't bother you?"

"Why should I?"

"In Kul Tiras it’s frequent and we're quite open minded with this, but I know that in the rest of the world it’s not like this, that's why..."

"By the Light, my life is a disaster so why would I go around judging others’ lifestyles? What difference does it make that Cyrus does one thing or another? He has been unfairly detained and that is what matters. It's nice to know that this plant is illegal here though." Taelia seemed tremendously relieved.

"Thank you…"

"We wait for them to stop interrogating him and I pay the bail, no problem."

They both waited nearby. Anduin didn't expect that Kul Tiras was open about relationships and that Cyrus was part of it. In the Eastern Kingdoms it wasn't seen with good eyes and it was taboo to even make a hint or joke. But it wasn't something that Anduin was very worried about, he was nobody to judge others’ personal life, that would go against his own creed. They waited almost ten minutes until the interrogation ended. Anduin paid the bail then and Cyrus was instantly released. The old Harbormaster looked very tired and had dark circles. Taelia went straight to help him by grabbing his arm until they were outside.

"We got you out as soon as possible." Taelia said to him. "These laws are shit."

"Hey," Wrathion said. "what if you pay a visit to the one who arrested him? Some threats can work."

"Wrathion, stop." Anduin said.

"It's just a genuine suggestion." Taelia smiled at him.

"The idea doesn't seem bad to me." she said.

"I just want to go home." Cyrus said, very tired.

Taelia nodded, they must let him rest after such a nightmare. Anduin decided to accompany them almost out of necessity, Cyrus looked very bad. But before he started walking, Wrathion stopped Anduin.

"I'm going to Drustvar." announced the dragon. Anduin looked at him, surprised. "I'll be flying over the area all night looking for Drust magic or see if I find anything out of place." Anduin nodded.

"Okay, good idea. Be careful anyway."

Wrathion winked at him and started to walk away. Anduin continued to help carry Cyrus, he was a big man and was a bit too much for Taelia alone. Cyrus's house wasn't far away. It was a simple two-story home with all the necessities. Downstairs was the living room and kitchen in one. Cyrus sat on the small sofa without saying anything, totally downcast. Taelia and Anduin tried to offer him something to drink but he refused. Still, Taelia went to the kitchen to take a drink and something to eat. That house was a second home for Taelia and she had no trouble finding things.

"I have been with men and women, most of us are like this, but there are still those who 'hunt' us." Cyrus said.

"Couldn't you defend yourself? You have a reputation, why wouldn't they believe you?" Taelia asked.

"The guard stood next to me while I peed, he said that I assaulted him. It was my word against his, they weren't going to listen to me. It didn't matter that I was the Harbormaster." Cyrus clarified. "Why would they believe me anyway?"

"Because you were telling the truth." Taelia replied, seriously. "Stop behaving as if you were guilty."

"Maybe I am a little." Cyrus took a few seconds of silence. "I wanted to go with him."

"That isn't a crime, since when is it?"

"Since he was a guard. I can't believe I was so naive. At my age and with everything I have... As to think that someone would find me desirable. Rather he found me pathetic." Taelia threw the plate in the sink and broke it. The noise startled both Anduin and Cyrus.

"You aren't pathetic, never say it again! You're much better than any of those corrupt shit guards." Taelia approached him and stood in front of him. "I don't want to hear that again!"

"Then don't listen." Taelia looked at him, confused. "You know? When I look in the mirror, sometimes I don't recognize myself. I still imagine that I'm your age and that I can go anywhere and get whoever I want regardless of their preferences. I had many back then." Cyrus sighed shakily. "But now... instead, I see this tired, somewhat discolored, old man, who has to depend on a plant to stop a disease and whom nobody wants." Taelia sat down beside him, slowly. "I can hardly remember the last time someone looked at me or touched me. So when that handsome young man expressed interest in me... I wanted to kneel right there." Taelia put her hand on Cyrus's shoulder and stroked him lightly. "That was the worst part. Worse than being arrested or locked up in Tol Dagor. It's just that... I believed it."

Taelia hugged him sadly, she didn't want him to feel that way. Anduin preferred not to say anything. He has heard older people say these kinds of things, the need to feel desirable. Deep down, although the young king always thought that he wouldn't be with someone if there is no love, he worried about ending up totally alone and feeling like this. Anduin shook his head, he was too young to think that. After a while, Taelia urged Cyrus to go to sleep. Anduin stayed a moment to help her pick up what she broke.

"Anduin..." Taelia began. "Thank you very much. I feel like I'm in constant debt to you. I don't know how I’ll return this to you."

"There's nothing to return, we’re friends, right?"

"It's not as if my friends can lend me six thousand gold out of nowhere."

"Which reminds me, nobody in the harbor wanted to help?"

"Of course they wanted to, but we don't have that much money. Our salaries are only to make ends meet."

"Oh..." Anduin scratched his head. "Anyway, Bolvar took care of me when I was little, so in theory I'm indebted to him. Maybe by helping you I can pay him off."

"You spent more time with him than I did." Anduin was speechless and Taelia tried to rectify. "By the tides, that sounded horrible. I wanted to say that with the time you spent with him I'm sure you don't owe him anything, he sure was delighted." Anduin shrugged slightly. "Anyway, if my father raised us both somehow, that makes us siblings, there should be no debts."

"Ah, I always wanted siblings." Anduin held out his hand excitedly. "I guess I have to be the little one."

"Of course." Taelia shook it. "We can do a ritual to celebrate it."

Taelia took a glass from a closet and some alcohol. Anduin wasn't sure what kind of ritual she was going to do. Taelia filled the glass in half.

"This was a pirate tradition at first." Taelia explained. "But then all Kul Tiras took it. It is said that if two people drink from the same glass, they become siblings forever."

"I didn't know something like that was a tradition." Taelia took the first sip and left the rest for Anduin.

"Cheers." Anduin drank the rest. He didn't like the taste too much and nearly choked.

"Cheers." they both laughed and Anduin put the glass down. Taelia gave him a little hug.

"Thanks for everything. And thank you for not judging our preferences."

"I guess that way you will have more options." Taelia tapped him on the shoulder in a friendly way.

"So is. It's getting late, I think we should all rest."

Anduin nodded, he was tired too. He accompanied Taelia to her house since it was on the way to Proudmoore Keep. The streets were silent as he walked and he had to use the Light to illuminate his way multiple times. For every step Anduin took, he felt more sleepy. He arrived at the Keep half asleep and almost stumbled several times with the stairs. Anduin yawned when he closed his room's door. He saw that he had some pending letters on the table, but decided to ignore it. After taking off his boots and his usual blue jacket, he realized he was still wearing Wrathion's scarf. He completely forgot to return it to him before he left for Drustvar. Anduin buried his nose in the cloth, he could notice Wrathion's smell perfectly, a very pleasant natural incense smell. Anduin shook his head, why was he doing that? He felt stupid, although he admitted that he liked the smell. He left only his pants on and got into bed.

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Anduin didn't understand why his dreams were getting darker, but he was surprised to be quite conscious now. He was standing nowhere at first, but the darkness began to make shapes of walls and halls, as if he was in a maze. Anduin didn't know what to do, he didn't notice that he could move freely, his body was heavy and the dream was confusing. Behind him he heard a flapping of wings. Anduin looked over his shoulder, what he had heard was a crow that flew over him. The crow was bigger than normal, it flapped its wings one last time before landing on the ground with an unusual elegance. The bird's squawk echoed, as if calling to him to follow. Anduin was going to take a step.

_Not him._

It was the voice, the same voice as always. That means this dream was the voice's idea. The voice didn't want him to follow the crow? Then, why was it there?

_The fish knows the way. The fish knows the darkest corners._

Fish? He hadn't seen any fish until he looked around and saw it almost hidden. It was an abyssal fish, it even had the light antenna and it seemed to be swimming as if it was in water. The fish fluttered away and Anduin curiously followed it through halls of shadows. At one point he seemed to go down some stairs and soon found a dark door. Anduin frowned and cocked his head, was that the end of the road?

_There is what you are looking for._

What? He wasn't looking for anything... that he knew. Did the voice know more about him than he did? And on top of all that, what was supposed to be behind the door? As if the voice had read his mind, it answered him.

_You will only know if you open it._

For some reason Anduin felt his own body move alone to the door. He took a few steps until he was right in front and raised his hands to open at once, although he was afraid. He had to know, he had to know why it brought him here in this dream. However, as soon as he touched the door, he woke up.

Anduin was very confused, he wasn't in his bed. He was, like in his dream, in front of a padlocked wooden door and the place wasn't lit at all. Where the hell was he? Anduin scratched his head nervously as a feeling of fear spread across his chest. He had never woken up in an unknown place. At least there were some stairs going up, so the young king almost ran up the stairs until he was led to an almost empty area of the Proudmoore Keep. He was shirtless, so the cold hit him instantly. Anduin rubbed his arms as he tried to go back to his room, he was freezing and it was late.

"Anduin?" the young king looked to his left and saw Jaina. She was carrying her staff and some of her clothes were torn and dirty. "What are you doing wandering around the Keep in the middle of the night half naked?" Anduin denied.

"I don't... I woke up sleepwalking."

"I didn't know you were a sleepwalker."

"Neither did I..." there was a small silence. "And you? What are you doing awake?"

"I just came back. I have driven the Horde warriors away from the Chandlery Wharf at Drustvar."

"Really? Nice.”

"I saw the dragon flying over the area, what is he doing there?"

"He's investigating things. Was there someone important out there from the Horde?"

"No, it was very easy to expel them. Anduin, you shouldn't be so uncovered here, it would be a shame if you fell ill again. You better go back to bed."

Anduin nodded, she was right. He said goodbye to Jaina and ran back to his room. The door was wide open and that surprised him. It didn't seem that someone had broken in, all the things and letters were still in place. Maybe he just did it when he got up. Anduin got into bed again, but was still very puzzled. It was impossible for him to go back to sleep again out of fear.

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"Sleepwalking? But you have never been a sleepwalker." Tess said.

"I know, but it happened to me tonight, I swear." Anduin said. Tess and Dereck looked at each other confused, Anduin had just explained what happened to him. "I don't know, I still find it hard to believe what happened."

"Well," Dereck started. "I won't deny that it's weird. Where do you say you woke up?"

"I think it was on a lower floor of the Keep, it didn't seem that people passed by normally… But I don't know how to get there, it was very dark and the halls seemed the same to me. I only remember that there was a wooden door and it was locked."

"I can try to find it." Dereck crossed his arms. "I can get a map of the Proudmoore Keep and find it, I'm good at this. I'm intrigued to know why the voice led you there."

"I admit I'm curious but... Well, okay, let's find the door."

Anduin couldn't help but feel intrigued even though it was the voice who led him there. Maybe it was a mistake to open the door, maybe it was a trap, but he had to check it. As Dereck said, it wasn't difficult at all to find a map of the Keep. The three looked attentively at the map looking for an area that seemed to be forgotten on lower levels. They found two places that resembled Anduin's vague description, they decided to go to one together first and see if Anduin remembered something. Unfortunately, the path they chose only led them to a cellar. As they went to the second option, Anduin missed Wrathion. The dragon hadn't yet returned from Drustvar, and it was past lunchtime. With how much Anduin liked to investigate with him for the ideas he could offer and now curiosity didn't let him wait. Anduin recognized the stairs he was going down now, he was sure this was the place. As soon as he saw a wooden door with a padlock there was no doubt.

"There." Anduin pointed out. "There’s where I woke up."

"It's true that not many people come here." Tess pointed out. "This area isn't even illuminated."

"Why would it be? It's part of Keep, have they forgotten this?"

"I think that sign answers the question." Dereck said pointing over the door. There was a wooden sign in very bad condition, cracked and filled with moisture where the phrase 'do not pass' could be read. That only fueled the intrigue.

"Maybe we get into big trouble if we open it." Tess said.

"It's alright. If they catch us, Anduin is king, they won't be able to do anything to him." Dereck said very confidently.

"King of Stormwind, not Kul Tiras." Anduin clarified. "But I don't think they'll discover us either. Can you force the padlock anyway?" Anduin asked Dereck.

Dereck just nodded very sure of himself. The padlock was one of the simple ones and with some lockpicks he opened it in a matter of seconds. Anduin was the one who opened the door. The wood seemed to crack and the hinges creaked so much that they were afraid to draw attention. The room behind the door was completely dark, there was no window that let sunlight in. Anduin created a ball of Light in his hand to simulate a torch and the three entered. They quickly realized that it was a rather dilapidated library. Tess took one of the books, but the pages were badly worn and were detached from the book because of the humidity.

"Does anyone else feel that we shouldn't be here?" Tess asked.

"This place looks like it's going to fall down at any moment." Dereck said.

"There must be something important here." Anduin insisted.

Anduin wasn't going to leave empty handed, although he didn't know exactly what he was looking for. He supposed it was obviously an old book, but what did that book contain so that the voice guided him here? The dust kicked up with each footfall and Anduin began to notice that the room was starting to get too small for not knowing what to find.

_Stop. It’s here._

Anduin stopped. It had been a long time since he heard the voice when he was awake. The young king looked around, there must be some important book there.

"Why did you stop?" Tess asked.

"The voice has spoken to me." both spies looked at him frowning. "It said it was here."

They both looked at the books around, there could be more than a hundred perfectly. Still they searched for a while at that particular spot. Some books seemed to fall apart when touched or the pages were like touching algae. Anduin stumbled across one book under another with an old wooden binding. He was quite surprised to see that the word 'Drust' could be read on the cover followed by an incomprehensible phrase half erased. Anduin show it.

"Look." he said, showing the cover. "Here, it says Drust." Tess and Dereck looked closely.

"What does it say right below?" Dereck asked.

"It's half erased. Let's see..." Anduin opened the book carefully, but only found a problem.

"These letters... Is this Common?"

"It seems Common but..." Tess murmured. "It's very primitive and some words are totally different."

"I think it's the first version of our language." Anduin said. "It was only starting so that's why it seems so primitive. The name Drust at least remains the same, you see?" he pointed to the word.

"I remember that in royalty they teach something of Common in their creation." Tess admitted. "But the truth is that I don't remember anything at all. And you, Anduin?" the young king snorted.

"Well... honestly, no." Anduin sighed. If this was what the voice wanted him to find, he should study it and get something clear. "Let's take it. Someone will know how to read it."

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Something important was going to be announced that afternoon. Word quickly spread that Cyrus had to announce something quite important, and any dockworkers, sailors, or prying eyes gathered near the Harbormaster’s office to watch. Anduin, Tess and Dereck went to watch. They couldn't find someone who could read the book so they decided to go. Amid all the gathered people, Anduin saw Taelia. She seemed quite confused too. Suddenly, some hands covered Anduin's eyes.

"Who am I?" Anduin smiled.

"An idiot." the young king looked back and saw Wrathion. His voice and the warmth of his hands were too recognizable to him. "Did you like Drustvar very much? I thought you would never come back."

"My my with the light-boy, he got up wanting to make jokes." Anduin hit him friendly on the shoulder and took off his scarf.

"Here, before I forget to return it to you." Wrathion put it on. "How have you been?"

"I have found rests of Drust magic, but not enough for me to make a portal. But I think I'll find what I lack in the manor."

"Are you sure?" Tess asked.

"Yes. What about you guys? Have you killed someone and that's why everyone is here?"

"They say something important will be announced." Anduin answered. "And something strange happened to me yesterday." Wrathion paid attention to him with a half smile. "I woke up sleepwalking." the dragon raised an eyebrow. "In my dream, the usual voice led me to a lower level of the Keep and told me that behind a door I would find something I was looking for." Wrathion's smile fell a bit. "So I told Tess and Dereck and we investigated. We found the door and there was an abandoned library… The voice spoke to me again and in the end we found this book." Anduin showed it to him. "It says Drust and something else. We can't read it, it's written in a very old Common. But it sure says something important." Anduin thought Wrathion would be glad, but rather he seemed angry.

"Let's see if I understand it." Wrathion rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Did you wake up in the middle of the night, sleepwalking because of a voice that told you to do something, and the next day you went to that place to see what it wanted?" Anduin nodded a little doubtful. "And you really did it?"

"Well, I..."

"Anduin, we have already talked about this thousands of times. You can't do what the voices tell you to do, ever."

"But this time it seeme-"

"I don't care. You can't, there's nothing more to say. You're letting the voice enter your mind by doing these things." Anduin didn't know what to say. Wrathion picked up the book and flipped through it. “Pre-Common, no doubt. It's not difficult to read."

"Are you mad at me?" Wrathion looked at him.

"I'm not mad at you, but don't do it again. I'll see what special thing this book has."

Since Wrathion was indifferent to the news of Boralus, he became absorbed in the book. After a couple minutes, Cyrus left the office and everyone paid attention to him. It didn't seem like he had slept too much, but he had a certain determination in his gaze.

"Dear co-workers and acquaintances." Cyrus began. "I won't extend this too much. I've been thinking a lot about my job lately. Stress and exhaustion begin to take their toll on me, I'm not what I once was. Some time ago I thought about taking retirement, but I didn't want to retire until I found the perfect person to replace me... and believe me when I say that it has been very difficult." Anduin blinked. Was he really going to retire? The young king didn't expect him to think about it after last night. "But I have found the best possible person, someone who knows this very well and has a big heart." Cyrus sighed. "That's why I announce two things. The first is that I retire. And the second is that the person who stays in charge will be Taelia."

Taelia looked at him totally puzzled, she wasn't expecting it at all. Everyone started clapping and cheering for her new big promotion. Taelia gave Cyrus a hug for a long time and her eyes filled with tears. Like pirates, the atmosphere became very festive with alcohol and music. As soon as Taelia was no longer in demand, Anduin and Tess were the first to congratulate her.

"Congratulations, Taelia!" Anduin exclaimed.

"How many Auroras Borealis do you want?" Tess asked. Taelia gave them both a hug.

"I'll need many considering all the work and stress I will have." Anduin put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I can give you some classes on that if you want. I'll be your guide."

Taelia was suddenly discouraged and the others laughed. They chatted for a while about how amazing this all was. Cyrus once hinted that he would be retiring soon, but Taelia didn't think he would actually pull it off and leave her as the new Harbormaster. The good news is that she said that if they needed a ship at any time, they would always have at least a couple available. Anduin saw Genn approach them and gestured to Anduin, as if he had been looking for him a long time.

"Boy," Genn began. "sometimes you disappear too much. I haven't seen you all day."

"I was kind of busy." Anduin recognized.

"Well, I need you." the young king looked at the others.

"We'll see each other for dinner."

Anduin waved goodbye and followed Genn. At breakfast and noon, the old wolf wasn't present, and Anduin thought that perhaps out of curiosity he had been avoiding something important.

"Has something serious happened?" Anduin asked when they began to approach the Keep.

"Not really."

"So?"

"I need you to sign papers..."

Anduin frowned, the way Genn said it hinted there was something else. When they reached the Keep, Anduin decided to be in private in his room. Genn closed the door and took out a few papers that he left on the table. The young king overlooked them a bit as he sat down.

"Are these the shipments Tyrande asked for?"

"Yes, let's say I've packed it all up and it's ready to go. But since they are shipments from Stormwind and the soldiers who protect the caravans are yours, you must authorize all this."

The usual authorization signatures. Anduin had no problem with it and had to sign up to four papers. He caught Genn looking at him with concern and when Anduin finished, the young king scowled at him. The old wolf scratched his beard and handed him a letter. It was open, so Genn had already read it. Anduin realized that it was signed by Mathias and felt a certain fear considering the last thing he had ordered. The report was a confirmation that Turalyon and Alleria were murdering blood elves on the border of the Eversong Woods. Several spies saw them and, after interrogating some soldiers who accompanied them, they ended up confessing.

"Shit." Anduin left the letter on the table. "Now what do we do with them?"

"Now that we have it confirmed, we must tell it to the others and decide together."

"I don't know what's wrong with them. This revenge they carry out is insane."

"Didn't you tell that N'Zoth through Azerite convinced people to do these things? They have used Azerite quite a bit, they must be quite influenced."

"Tyrande was too until she opened her eyes, I don't know how I'll convince them."

"We'll talk when everyone knows. By the way, what happened at the harbor? I haven't heard."

"Cyrus has retired." Genn's eyes widened, surprised. "He has appointed Taelia as the Harbormaster."

"Oh, wow." the old wolf smiled. "Bolvar's daughter has earned her position, I'm happy for her. She's very nice, I've seen you talking to her a lot."

"We were raised by Bolvar so… It makes us close."

"Yes..." Genn scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I think... Okay, it's time for us to talk about life things considering the circumstances and before it's too late."

"Huh?" Anduin only frowned at Genn's change of attitude.

"You're at that age, Anduin. I suppose it will be normal for you to be curious considering all the interesting people entering your circle lately." Anduin frowned even more. "Especially these pretty girls maybe can make you think tha-"

"Stop, you promised me that you would never talk to me about marriages again." Genn raised his hand as if he was about to make an oath.

"Never is never, and I'm not talking about that. Rather I talk about that you will want to look for new sensations and try things, curiosity is basically that. Since I'm your guardian, I should give you warnings and advise you on this, I don't want you to make mistakes."

"Advise me on what?"

"You will have your temptations, Anduin. You may have already thought about sleeping with someone and-"

"Stop, stop, wait." the young king got up from the chair somewhat nervous. "With all the problems we have out there, do you think I have time to even think about it? Also, if it's for giving me the talk, don't worry, they already gave it to me a long ago."

"You weren't eighteen long ago."

"I don't think the essentials have changed. And this is a disaster, very awkward." Genn got up from the chair almost laughing.

"But you love my awkward conversations!"

"No! Not at all!"

"I don't know if you evade me because you are already doing it... Do you use precautions at least?"

"Genn, I'm a virgin and will be for a long time." Genn nodded very quickly and covered his ears lightly.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm glad we talked about it and I hope I helped." Anduin pushed him to the door.

"Yes, yes, me too."

“See you at dinner.”

Anduin closed the door and sighed deeply. He didn't like talking about this even if he was with trusted people. That Genn thought he would be doing it with anyone just because he may have temptations didn't like him too much, Anduin wouldn't be able to sleep with someone even out of curiosity. He needed to feel very connected to that particular person to want it, he wasn't like most people.

Anduin sighed again and sat down at the table to write a couple of letters. He had to write to the leaders to arrange a meeting and talk about Turalyon and Alleria, although he wasn't sure whether to have both present at the meeting or expose them behind their backs first and then have another meeting with them.

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By the time Anduin went down to the kitchens for dinner, he had all the letters ready. It only remained for him to decide whether he should call Turalyon and Alleria before or after they all knew. When Anduin opened the door, he saw that he was the last to arrive, even Wrathion arrived earlier. Dinner was already being served and the young king had to find himself a plate and cutlery. Dinner looked good, honey-glazed haunches, and for dessert, a Kul Tiramisu. It was something he had liked since he tried it. Although he had an awkward conversation with Genn a short time ago, that didn't make the atmosphere tense. They were quite loud as usual and this time they were telling some funny anecdotes. Anduin realized that Wrathion was extremely engrossed in the book. He wasn't one of those who ate too much but in the end he always did it for courtesy, today he hadn't even touched the silverware. Genn amused everyone by telling an anecdote about a distant relative who used to visit the center of Gilneas when he wanted, a man who lived with excesses such as drinking, smoking, and dating when he had the chance.

"One day they called me from the hospital." Genn explained, animatedly. "Apparently Randy had suffered a heart attack and, although it wasn't serious, he needed a little help to get home and his sister didn't appear. We both went looking for him." he pointed to Mia. "When we arrived, he was ready to return. We assumed he would be discharged soon, but he had even already removed his hospital clothing."

"I remember his peculiar looks." Tess said. "He always wore that long black coat and that high top hat, he had the appearance of being a dangerous boss."

"Exactly." Genn continued. "His sister arrived a few minutes later and we spoke with the doctor who attended him. He told us that he should lower these excesses so we explained it to Randy in a way that he would understand: 'The doctor said that you have to stop, you will come with us for a while, there will be no alcohol and tobacco...' And just when we finished explaining to him, he, with all the seriousness in the world, approached the doctor and asked him: 'But doctor, can I… continue having sexual relations?' And the doctor said: 'Sure! No problem!' And his sister behind yelling: 'Don't tell him that!'"

Everyone laughed at Genn's theater and because of the story. Mia and Tess laughed at remembering that old relative while Anduin and Dereck had fun listening to those stories. On the other hand, Wrathion wasn't paying attention as he was still focused on the book.

"He was such a character..." Mia sighed.

"I remember he gave me and Liam that board game about solving mysteries." Tess said. "The moments we had!"

"And the discussions you had screaming." Genn pointed out, putting his hands to his head as if it hurt.

"I would have liked to have such a fun family member." Anduin said. "And you Dereck? Did you have a relative like that?"

"I have no relatives." Dereck answered. "But we were seven people at home so…"

"Tell us something." Tess encouraged him.

"Well... my younger brother was a sleepwalker." Dereck crossed his arms. "Sometimes he did things like setting up a barricade on the stairs with cushions. But I think the most memorable thing he did was leave the house at dawn, go into the neighbor's house, and sleep on their couch. The next day he was returned to us."

"Seriously?" Anduin asked, laughing.

"Yes. These things were common in my house."

Anduin was amused by hearing these anecdotes, but at the same time it made him envious. He realized how incredibly boring his life had been, he could hardly explain moments like these. But he realized that someone was also missing to explain something funny. Anduin tapped Wrathion on the arm.

"And you?" Anduin asked. "Any story of this type in your life?" Wrathion said nothing, he was looking at the book with wide eyes and without blinking. "Are you ignoring me?"

"Leave him, it's obvious that he isn't among us." Mia said. But just as she said that, Wrathion dropped the book and looked at Anduin in surprise.

"I already know how to create a portal." said Wrathion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've heard older people talk about the need to feel desirable and the truth is that it gave me a very sad perspective of old age, which is why I included that scene. Oh, and I also included that because now that Anduin and Taelia are like siblings, there will always have ships available. 231423 IQ move by Anduin.  
Genn trying to be a father... Anyway, fun fact: these stories they tell at the end are real stories that happened in my family lol.  
And remember, if you hear voices, ignore them.  
Kudos and comments are well received, my only meal. Until next time.


	39. The Blighted Lands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, prepare for a lot of text.  
Well this chapter is 10k words, I hope I never do this again because it was hell to write it in the first place and then translate it. It took me about 4 months to write this, so it's probably not very good, but it had to be done. This little adventure with the Drust happened for two reasons: One, to tell important things for the plot, and two, it was a little experiment. Honestly, it didn't work out for me, a lot of parts were boring and I don't think those who have read this liked it too much. Whatever it is, it's over, now I will move on to much more important things and although N'Zoth's game has already started, now you will see the results (so, everything will get dark from now on).
> 
> This chapter originally I thought of dividing it into two parts, but in the end I said "better not" and that's why it ended up being so long, I hope it's not too hard to read and you can enjoy it. By the way, I have something important to say but I leave it better in the end.  
Sorry for the grammar mistakes, this one will have a lot probably.

"What?" Anduin asked, very confused.

"I already know how to create a portal." everyone was quite confused at Wrathion's statement.

"Can you explain it in a way that we understand?" Dereck asked. Wrathion settled into the chair.

"This book is actually a diary of someone who was in Gorak Tul’s clan when they began to be the Drust." the dragon explained. "He wrote the processes to create a portal to the Blighted Lands step by step."

"Let me see." Genn wanted to inspect. Wrathion smiled.

"Sure, look." the dragon showed some pages of the diary, but they were just a bunch of pictures put in an order that made no sense to anyone.

"What is this supposed to be?" Anduin asked.

"These are arcane runes, which are used to make any portal. With a specific combination of runes and math you could go to Stormwind, or Dalaran, or anywhere. Since The Blighted Lands are just an offshootfrom other realities, it has its own runes and complex numbers. The diary is full of notes on the equations that are needed and the runes are well drawn. We would only need one last detail, get the Drust magic to let us pass."

"Great." Tess said. "All yours, I'm so bad at maths."

"Does it say anything else besides that?" Anduin asked.

"No, it's just a diary about magic practices. How it ended in that lost library, I don't know. I have a couple of letters to write."

They had a dessert before going to sleep while Wrathion tried to explain how to make a portal, but no one could follow the explanation since neither studied magic. It was a great revelation that the diary contained the secret to make a portal, Anduin hardly believed how lucky they were. But he can't help but wonder the most obvious question of the moment: why did the voice help him?

Wrathion said that he would write to Calia, who was in Drustvar, to confirm if the manor still had traces of Drust magic and to return to Boralus. If she confirmed it, it would be all done. Then privately the dragon told Anduin that he would write to Ebyssian as well. He needed him to speed up the portal’s creation, he needed more magic than his own because it was a somewhat complex procedure. When they said goodbye to go to sleep, Wrathion asked Anduin to lock his door with a key and several latches if necessary. If he had a sleepwalking attack again because of the voice, it was better if he didn't leave the room, otherwise, Wrathion wouldn't know where it would take him.

Anduin listened to him, he secured his door before going to bed. He couldn't stop thinking about that voice. Just as the Light could sometimes be bad, could the Void have good voices? There were always prejudices and it was normal, but that voice… had been helping him. Why help him against the Drust? Did the voice like him? Anduin closed his eyes and settled back on the pillow. Before falling sound asleep, Anduin heard something. It was far away and he wasn't sure if he heard it because he was entering his sleep, but in the end it woke him up slightly. He didn't know where it came from, it sounded like bells colliding with each other a few meters from the young king. Anduin used the Light to illuminate the room, but saw nothing, indeed, the noise stopped. Anduin just rubbed somewhat confused one eye and settled back again. But before he fell asleep, he heard it again.

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Anduin couldn't sleep well. That noise was there all night long and his sleep was interrupted several times. He had breakfast with Tess and Dereck half asleep without paying attention and he took a few seconds to realize that Tess was snapping her fingers a few inches from his face.

"Hey, you have to sleep at night." Tess said jokingly.

"I'm sorry." Anduin covered his mouth as he yawned. "Did you say something?"

"Yes, we were saying that maybe it's a good idea to include Calia in our sect." Anduin frowned.

"We aren't a sect, we're only guardians."

"Whatever. What do you say?"

"It's not a bad idea to include Calia, and also she already knows the tauren secret. But if we include her we must also include Baine, Mayla and Ebyssian."

"Honestly," Dereck said. "I already see the tauren as part of the guardians."

"Wrathion wrote to Calia last night to confirm and come over, so we'll discuss it. Speaking of which, has anyone seen them?" they both denied. "I finish breakfast and we look for them."

He wasn't too hungry, but Anduin devoured everything anyway. The three went out of the Keep to search. Just getting close to the main canal that divided Boralus in two was enough, Wrathion was receiving Calia right there. They all greeted each other with a high five, happy to be reunited. They took a moment, considering there weren't too many people around to talk. Calia just explained to Wrathion that during all this time they tried to clean the manor, but it was too infected with Drust magic and it would take longer than expected. Wrathion was happy with it, he could find all the magic he needed there. The dragon also gave unexpected news. Ebyssian responded in the morning saying that they would be coming to the house that afternoon. Anduin felt encouraged, so much good news in a row was something he hadn't seen in years.

They waited until the early afternoon. They saw some movement in the central canal before leaving, the Tidesages were gathered and Jaina was with them. Between all the people, Leo came out from among them directly to hug the dragon and looked at him with big enthusiasm.

"Look, a gnome." said Wrathion.

"Guess what, guess what." Leo said, smiling.

"Just tell me."

"I'm going to become Tidesage!"

"Oh, have you studied enough?"

"It's not because of studying a lot, it's more of a process. Now all the students will go to the Shrine of the Storms to be initiated. From there, everything is going up in rank."

"What is that place?"

"It's our most sacred place. I'm excited! Pike told me that he will help me especially with water control, which is what I do best."

"Leo." Anduin called. "You will do great, you will learn a lot and tomorrow we will have you managing our ships." Leo seemed happy with the idea. "By the way, what is Jaina doing there?"

"Oh, it was tradition long ago that the Lord Admiral accompanied future initiates. The habit has been lost a bit, but Jaina wants to take it up again."

"How great! I'm glad."

"We'll see each other in many days."

Leo waved goodbye and Wrathion ruffled his hair completely to say goodbye. After everything that happened, Anduin was glad that Leo found his way.

They chose the path that went north to go to the house, they didn't want to go through Hatherford. It was then when the matter of the guardians was explained to Calia. Tess was the one who explained it since Anduin for some reason felt embarrassed. It wasn't the same to explain it to a friend with whom you had a lot of confidence than someone with whom you weren't so close. The young king didn't understand where that feeling was coming from now. Regardless, Calia didn't scoff or wonder at what they explained. Just like when she discovered the tauren, she understood perfectly. She sensed that they would have some kind of strange agreement, but she thought that the tauren were already involved in the guardians.

"And how many more secrets do you hide?" Calia asked.

"Apart from our pacts that would shake the entire Alliance? One more." Tess answered.

"Oh, what is it?"

"When we get there you'll see." Calia tilted her head a little.

"Wrathion, how did you find out how to create a portal?" Calia asked, very curious. "I remember I asked Jaina and Katherine how they got in there, but since they were dragged by the Drust they couldn't tell me anything."

"Ask Anduin." replied the dragon. Calia looked at the young king.

"Ah." Anduin scratched his head before continuing. "Through a dream I discovered an abandoned library in the Keep and there I found a diary where the process was written."

"A dream? How?"

"In my dream a voice spoke to me and led me there."

"A voice? Wait, you were using the Void, was it a voice from the Void?" Anduin nodded. "That's dangerous... and strange. And why would a voice help you?"

"I don't know. Maybe the voice likes me." Anduin smiled. "Maybe we could be friends." he said it as a joke, the sarcastic tone was clear enough. But Wrathion, who was right in front of him, intercepted him while punching a nearby tree. He caught Anduin by surprise and all the mood to joke was gone when he saw that Wrathion looked at him very seriously.

"It's not your friend." said the dragon. "And what you should ask yourself is not why it helps you or not, rather why it knew that this diary was there."

Anduin didn't think about it. If the library was abandoned, how could the voice know that this diary was there? Wrathion etched Calia's magic code into the barrier so that she could pass through without repercussions. She was surprised with the illusion since she only saw a demolished house, but as soon as she passed the barrier, she saw two big surprises: seeing the house and Varok. Of all the things she could imagine, she didn't think they had a war prisoner there. Varok was skinning a deer and was surprised to see a new face.

"Okay." Calia said. "I didn't expect this at all. Congratulations, it wasn't easy surprising me."

They quickly explained what exactly happened, the favor Baine asked for. Varok had settled in that house since then, he just went out hunting for something to eat. He never gave any signs of wanting to leave, he was so tired he would probably stay there forever if given the chance. While they waited for the tauren to arrive, they sat in the small living room having coffee and chatting. It wasn't long before the tauren showed up. Baine respectfully greeted Varok first and then everyone else. Wrathion wasted no time approaching Ebyssian, showing him the diary.

"Can you read these runes?" Wrathion asked him. Ebyssian read it silently for a few seconds.

"Yes, although they are a bit complex."

"Don't worry too much, I just need you to help me speed up the process. Let's do some tests."

The two dragons stayed outside to experiment. Varok stayed on the porch to watch them without quite understanding what they did with magic. Baine greeted Anduin by shaking his hand and they sat around the table.

"Glad to see that you have recovered, Anduin." Baine said.

"Thanks, I wanted to get out of bed." the young king smiled. "I'm surprised how quickly you have come, usually it always takes you some days." Baine and Mayla looked at each other with some concern.

"Actually... it's weirder than you think." Mayla said. "As you said, usually they don't let us leave without giving explanations. Nathanos is the one in charge of granting permits and always asks a thousand questions. But not today, we told him that we will investigate new looting points and he didn't ask us where we were going."

"Something is up." Baine said. "And I'm afraid of what might happen. The last time there was this kind of behavior Teldrassil was burned the next day…" Baine took a few seconds of silence and looked at Anduin with a frown. “Anduin… I have heard certain things that the Alliance has been doing."

"Doing? What do you mean?" the young king frowned.

"Lor’Themar is very upset. He has explained to us that Turalyon and Alleria are slaughtering Sin'dorei with no mercy, warriors or civilians." Anduin sighed and looked down. "I know we said not to mix matters of our factions but... I can't understand how you can allow it."

"Allow it?" Anduin rubbed his eyes. "No one in the Alliance knew."

"How is that possible? Have they done it behind everyone's back?"

"Exactly. Tyrande found out a few days ago and explained it to me. Today I have been sending letters to arrange a meeting and expose them."

"And I thought that only in the Horde we had these problems… Anyway, why did they decide to do that all of a sudden?"

"They have used Azerite a lot." Tess said. "They will probably be influenced. But they will answer for it."

"And Sylvanas hasn’t spoken on this issue?" Anduin asked.

"She didn't say anything." Baine replied. "But I don't know if it's due to indifference or because she doesn't know."

Suddenly there was something like a very compressed explosion that startled everyone. They looked outside, for the noise came from there, and they saw the dragons pushed away from a small hole in the grass where smoke was coming out.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Tess asked.

"It's just we made a mistake in a rune." Wrathion replied.

"Are you trying to make us travel to another reality or to explode us to pieces?"

"It was just a small mistake. We have it quite mastered and soon we will be able to go." the truth is that it didn't inspire confidence. Wrathion approached them. "Anyway, the portal is the least of our problems."

"Why?" Anduin asked. Wrathion scratched his head.

"None of us have faced these powers. I don't know exactly what will happen once we cross the portal. Supposedly there will be magic of nature and death at the same time and apparently the place plays with your mind."

"True." Calia said. "Katherine and Jaina said they had hallucinations in there."

"The best we can do is test it the first time we enter. Enter, see how it affects us and leave. We have to be sure that it doesn't affect us in a very negative way."

"Wait a moment." Baine interrupted. "How long would that be? We don't have too many hours of daylight left and we have an obligation to return at night. Also, we don't know if they would let us go tomorrow."

"We can go to Drustvar now, get the Drust magic we need and do the test before nightfall, if that's okay with you. I know of a good place in a small cave where we can make the portal safely." Wrathion proposed. Most nodded.

"Alright." Anduin said for everyone. "Let's go to Drustvar."

"Good luck." Varok wished them as soon as they got up.

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It took them several hours to reach Drustvar, twilight gaveway to the night once they approached the Waycrest manor. At least the trip wasn't boring. They took the opportunity to explain to the tauren about being guardians. Ebyssian looked indifferent, he served the Highmountain Tauren and the Horde, so he didn't care too much for another new group, he would only do the right thing. Mayla, unlike her adviser, seemed excited. With her growing discontent with the Horde for the situation they were in, everything they said sounded great to her, she would rather be a guardian than a member of the Horde. Baine didn't know what to say. He wasn't against it, but he thought it was complicated because they were from different factions. It was a bit inevitable that they would eventually talk about some faction issues, as had happened hours ago, and he didn't like mixing these things up because he didn't want a clash of ideas. But Anduin explained that here they helped each other and respect should always be present. However, they would finish this mission together as a mutual favor, not as guardians. The tauren wanted to think the proposition thoroughly.

Wrathion led them into the small forest east of the Waycrest manor. Supposedly the area was quiet and they had to find a small cave at the foot of the mountain. But Wrathion got a little lost, all the trees were the same and although they found the mountain, they didn't see the cave. It was getting darker and darker and legs were starting to fail after all day.

"Are we there yet?" Tess asked.

"It was around here." Wrathion replied. "This forest is the same everywhere, it's normal for me to be confused."

"You don't remember going through here?"

"Oh, of course." Wrathion pointed to a random tree. "That tree over there is my favorite one, how could I forget it..." he said sarcastically.

"Why do you want to go to that cave?" Anduin asked. "Couldn't you make the portal right here?"

"It's because of the ley lines there. They are powerful and it will be easier to make the portal."

Mayla found the cave after a while, it was north of the manor somewhat hidden by brush. It was a very small hole where two people could fit, perfect for placing a portal. It only remained to get the Drust magic. Wrathion asked Ebyssian to go with him while the others waited.

Both dragons arrived quickly at the manor and went down to the basement since they found the first portal there. Wrathion checked it last time, the explosion left remains of magic around, magic that he could use. Despite the darkness, they both reached the place where the portal once stood and Wrathion took a black glass vial from his bag.

"This time we won't be able to do any experiments with the runes." Ebyssian said. Wrathion smiled slightly as he crouched down to see the magic closely.

"Look," he pointed out. "the magic took the form of a shock wave."

Wrathion very carefully created a magic barrier around his hand and brought the bottle to the ground. To a person who didn't know about these practices would say that the magic turned liquid and entered the bottle slowly, or that a magnet attracted the magic inside, or that Wrathion had some kind of repellent in his hand that pushed it inside.

"I wanted to ask you something." Ebyssian said.

"Ask away."

"Through letters we talked about the lifestyle in the black dragonflight, but now I would like to know how they were perceived by mortals or what relationship our flight had with them." the bottle was getting more and more full.

"Before or after N’Zoth?"

"Both."

"Before they were respectable, it would be the word I'd use. Although at first glance our task was simple because it was to watch over the earth and not time or life, we were very wise. The earth surrounds us and with the Hammer of Khaz’goroth we could modify the environment. Even Neltharion was Alexstrasza's closest adviser." Wrathion frowned as he pronounced that name.

"And after?"

"Hated, persecuted, distrustful... We earned it. Once Neltharion fell into N'Zoth's whispers there was no turning back. After the accident in the Well of Eternity, no one wanted to get close to a black dragon. They saw us as if we were the most evil beings in Azeroth, it was all written on their faces."

"I cannot speak for myself since I never left the mountain and they know me well. But you weren't corrupt, did they treat you the same way even though you didn't do anything?"

"Of course, it was written on their faces every time someone saw me, in the disgust that no one had the decency to hide. As black dragons, we have certain traits that are very easy to identify, such as our dark skin or our eyes color. All races are this closed-minded once something is taken for granted, even coming from supposedly advanced civilizations." Wrathion put the cap on the bottle once it was half full and stood up. "And all I could do was put on my best fake smile and move on avoiding thinking about it. We have enough with this, let's go back to the others and do the test."

"Did it hurt that they did that?" Wrathion looked away.

"None of them deserved a single tear." Wrathion shrugged. "Anyway, it's not me I have to talk about."

"There is not much relevance in my life, I was always in the mountains." both dragons walked at a fast pace to leave the manor.

"I meant you want to know about the flight, not about me."

"It doesn't seem bad to know each other either."

Wrathion still had his doubts about that. It's not that Ebyssian gave him a bad impression, it's that Wrathion was very closed when it came to himself. It wasn't long before they were reunited. The others waited while they had a competition to throw knives at a tree. Wrathion entered the small cave and quickly located the clustered ley lines to draw the runes.

"I want to make one thing clear." Wrathion said. "I repeat, the first time we enter it will be a test, just go in and out. Nothing of experimenting things."

"Are you sure about that?" Baine asked.

"The Blighted Lands plays with your mind. I don't know exactly what kind of mental paranoia it will make us see, but it won't be pleasant. So we must be sure, we put a foot in, see what kind of effect it is, and we go outside to devise a plan taking into account what we see."

They all nodded. This time the portal didn't explode as before, both dragons kept it in place without it getting out of control. As soon as Wrathion poured half of the Drust magic he collected from the manor at the base of the runes, the portal turned more blue and black, just like the portals they saw. They would save the other half for next time. It was stabilized and ready to use when there were the first doubts. Who dared to enter first? First they said that the best thing would be to compete playing rock, paper or scissors, but they ended up deciding to enter one after another without separating too much. Wrathion would lead.

"How many of you have entered a different reality?" Wrathion asked, but he only got silence as an answer until Baine raised his hand slightly.

"I entered the Emerald Dream a long time ago."

"Well, I'll tell the others then. Don't worry about the feeling, it will be totally normal. You may feel dizzy or feel extremely light, but stay calm."

No one knew what to think about it, but before anyone said anything, Wrathion opened the portal. The top-to-bottom line parted and Wrathion entered. The Drust magic worked, it let him enter calmly since the portal thought he was one of them when noticing the magic. Ebyssian was the second to pass and then it was Anduin. As soon as he crossed to the other side, the young king thought he was deaf. Everything was in a very disturbing silence and he didn't know very well where he was going because of a dense fog. A stabbing pain in the head appeared followed by severe dizziness. Because of that, he lost sight of everyone and felt alone. Where were they? Weren't they after him? Then he could hear a voice nearby. Anduin tried to see the person who was speaking and tried to understand what they were saying, as it was only a whisper, but he was starting to notice that it was very familiar to him. A figure appeared out of the fog, Anduin thought it was one of his friends, but when he got closer and saw who it was, he froze.

"Are you ready to take responsibility?" said. Anduin opened his mouth.

"Father?"

It couldn't be, why was he seeing Varian? But he was the same as the last time Anduin saw him, before he left for the Broken Shore. His blue armor was shiny and he had Shalamayne, that was the detail that made Anduin frown, he was wearing it too.

"How can you say that? If you continue with those fantasies, you will never grow up."

Anduin looked back and saw a somewhat older man that he recognized. He was one of the tutors he had as a child, a man who had no qualms about telling him that he was sometimes very childish. But he died a long time ago, Anduin didn't understand why he was seeing him there. It had to be the place, none of it could be real no matter how much it looked real. Yet he ended up hearing someone recognizable. He could hear Tess' voice very close calling him. The young king tried to locate her but that fog wouldn't let him, so he made the decision to close his eyes very hard and shake his head quickly.

"Anduin!" the young king opened his eyes. Tess was in front of him shaking him. Dereck was there too and they both looked relieved.

"Shit." Dereck said. "We thought you were fainting or something, you were totally gone."

"What happened?" Anduin asked as he looked around. It looked like they were in Drustvar, but it was a thousand times more gloomy and dark.

"We crossed the portal." Tess explained. "Suddenly we all disappeared and... I saw my brother Liam."

"Your brother?" Anduin scratched his head.

"I almost had a heart attack when I saw him."

"I saw my family." Dereck said. "But I remembered right away that we've been warned that this place plays with your mind, so I assumed it was a hoax and Ebyssian finally got me out."

They saw that the three tauren were getting closer. Mayla was scared, apparently it took a while to get her out of the deception. Baine on the other hand was frowning and Ebyssian was apparently fine. All the pain sensations gradually dissipated. The bad thing is that they lost sight of Calia and Wrathion, so they decided to look for them. The Blighted Lands were a reflection of Drustvar, but it lacked the light of the sun or the moon, the chinks of blue-colored Drust magic were the only illumination there. The color was everywhere, on the ground, on the trees... even on the stones. But the air and gravity were much more intense, walking around left them exhausted. Dereck was the one who saw Calia first. She seemed to be in a trance from which she didn't come out while looking around scared. Ebyssian used his magic on Calia to dispel the illusion and gradually she came to her senses. Anduin heard his name being called and as soon as he turned around, he saw Varian again.

"Is this normal?" asked the young king.

"The what?" Tess asked.

"I know my father isn't there, but I'm seeing him. If I'm already out of the illusion, why do I keep seeing him?"

"We don't really come out of the illusion." Ebyssian replied. "We will continue to see these ghosts all the time, the illusion is in the air."

"It's disturbing…" Calia said.

Anduin sensed that Calia was seeing her brother judging how affected she looked. But they still hadn't found Wrathion. As they searched the surroundings, Tess was the first to notice that they were being watched. Trying to be very subtle, they saw that behind rocks and trees some creatures were analyzing them. Some had a human figure, others had animal figures with very long legs, but at least they weren't big. For now they weren't attacking, but they suspected they would at any moment. Ebyssian could finally smell Wrathion and tracked him down. The dragon was standing perfectly still in the middle of the forest. Anduin ran to him when he saw him to get him out of the deception and tapped him on the shoulder once he was close, but Wrathion didn't move. Anduin moved to look at him, but for the first time, he saw the horror in his eyes. Anduin always thought that nothing could terrify the dragon like that, but he was completely traumatized by whatever he was seeing.

"Wrathion?" Anduin passed his hand in front of his eyes. "Can you hear me? Wrathion?" Ebyssian caught up with them.

"He's still in the illusion, I will have to-"

"I'm not in the first illusion." Wrathion replied. "I'm aware of where I am, it’s just..."

"It's not real what you see." Anduin said. But Wrathion didn't respond, he kept looking horrified, and he began to take a step back very slowly.

"I can't."

Wrathion ran off under everyone's stunned gaze. Anduin followed him without hesitation, confused by his reaction. The dragon arrived at the portal swiftly and returned to reality followed by the others. Now night had fallen on Azeroth and only the moon and stars lit up the area. Everyone felt a slight headache when leaving the Blighted Lands, the air there was very dense and polluted. Some sat on the ground to avoid dizziness and breathe fresh air, but Anduin searched for Wrathion. The dragon was sitting a little further away on a rock, resting his head on his hands. With a bit of difficulty, Anduin climbed the rock and patted his back.

"Wrathion? Are you alright?" Wrathion passed a hand over his lids and sighed.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Wrathion nodded. "Why did you run away like that?"

"I just saw..." he chose not to finish the sentence.

"Was it Deathwing?"

"No." Anduin frowned and Wrathion rested his forehead on his fist. "I just need a moment."

Anduin thought it was better not to say anything to him, he could tell that Wrathion was affected and needed a moment alone. Though when he went down to meet the others, the young king couldn't help but wonder what he actually saw. If it wasn't Deathwing who he saw, then, who was it? Who was Wrathion's true torment? He didn't know of another person in the dragon's life who was so influential, but of course, Wrathion never told him about his past so he couldn't be sure either. Calia was the first to speak after recovering from dizziness.

"It didn't go so well." Calia sighed. "These... ghosts, or whatever you want to call them, are too distracting."

“Is there any way to avoid it?! Tess asked.

“We will need some plan to avoid it and...” Calia lowered her voice a little. “I don't know what kind of ghosts Wrathion has, but if he doesn't find a way to overcome them, we will have a problem."

She was right, Wrathion said that he himself would make Gorak Tul speak because the others didn't know how to do it. But it was too late and the tauren had to return out of obligation, they had their own curfew. The good news is that they would be staying at the Horde camp on Drustvar, so they would meet next day to solve the problem. The tauren went their way and Calia decided to stay that night in Drustvar in case something happened since they entered their lands and they didn't know if there would be repercussions for it. After Anduin got Wrathion up, the four of them returned to Boralus paying a ferry master now that they were finally operational again.

Once they reached the Proudmoore Keep in the early morning, Tess and Dereck went to sleep immediately. Anduin asked Wrathion if he wanted to stay with him all the time if he was so upset, but the dragon refused. Wrathion said that he wouldn't sleep for anything in this world and would be on the rooftops of Boralus thinking. Anduin had to accept it even though he preferred to be in company, seeing the ghosts of his loved ones left him a little scared and knowing that lately he had nightmares, he didn't want to be alone. But he didn't say that detail to Wrathion because of some stupid inner fear and just said good night.

Just as he thought, Anduin couldn't sleep soundly. The memories of those he saw, especially those of his father, kept crossing his mind. To make things worse, he heard those bells colliding with each other much closer. Even though he looked a couple of times, he found nothing again.

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_You can't tell anyone, because if you do, they will get very mad at you._

It was without a doubt one of the worst nights of his life. Anduin woke up with big dark circles after sleeping for a few hours. The voice spoke to him again, as convincing as it had been in recent weeks, and told him that he couldn't explain to anyone that he spoke to him again almost daily, that if he did, they would all be angry at him. For some reason, he believed it, as if the voice had a spell that forced him to convince himself that it was so. But he didn't want to be there any longer alone, walking would do him good. Genn also got up early that day, so Anduin took the opportunity to have breakfast with him. Genn brought the conversation to the point with Turalyon and Alleria. He said that they all responded to the letters but wanted to talk to each other first before asking them for explanations. Anduin had no objections, it was a good idea to talk about it and come to an agreement before facing them. After breakfast, they went to meet Jaina. Anduin wanted to tell her about their progress with Gorak Tul and about the next meeting. Jaina was in her office as usual, surrounded by an endless mountain of papers.

"Good Morning." Anduin said.

"Good Morning." the magician answered. Genn just shook his head in greeting.

"Isn't that too much work?"

"You must know, you are the king of papers."

"True." Anduin laughed lightly. "We came to talk about the meeting about Turalyon and Alleria." Anduin approached the table a bit. "We should do this meeting soon. The others have said that they are available at any time, but you didn't say anything. When do you think you can?"

"I have a little matter in Stormsong Valley, I need a couple of days."

"What happens in the Valley? Need a hand?" Genn asked. "I've been hearing lately that they're attacking again."

"It's precisely that, incursions of the Horde." Jaina crossed her arms. "Regarding Turalyon and Alleria… I'm surprised by that refusal you show, Anduin. You did the same when you decided to go on your own behind everyone's back to Nazmir." Anduin just frowned.

"That I did…? How can you say it's the same? Just because we have in common that we didn't say anything to anyone? I haven't killed any civilians, Jaina. Nor did I give the Horde reasons to be angry with us. Who says these Horde attacks in the Valley aren't because of what they have done?"

"I thought you all overcame that." Genn said. "And it makes no sense to mention it now, they are very different cases." Jaina clicked her tongue.

"Okay, whatever you say. Regarding your question of if I need help, a hand could do me good, but it's not an excessively high priority. How are you doing regarding Gorak Tul?" she looked at Anduin. The young king didn't know if she was simply asking to change the subject.

"Yesterday we entered the Blighted Lands." Jaina raised her eyebrows. "But we didn't stay too long. It hit us hard mentally so we didn't stay long. We will try again today."

"Did it affect you so much?"

"You were there, you know what I mean. But if you need help in the Valley then-"

"No." she cut off, suddenly. "You can't be divided into two issues. Try to kill Gorak Tul today while I solve the problem in the Valley."

"I don't know if I can do it today..."

"You can, if that's your only focus, you can do it."

There was something, something in Jaina's words of encouragement that didn't reach her eyes. Anduin wasn't sure why it was happening, this had never happened to him before with Jaina. They agreed that they would hold the meeting in two days, enough time for them to finish their business. Anduin didn't want to waste time, he had to meet with everyone and go to Drustvar as soon as possible.

Tess and Dereck were easy to find around the Keep, with Wrathion it took longer because he was in a secluded area of Boralus and because Anduin called him shouting. Wrathion was no longer as traumatized as yesterday, but he was quite serious. They again paid a ferry master to go to Drustvar while they discussed what they could do within the Blighted Lands. They thought that maybe there was some spell to repel the illusion, but Wrathion said they couldn't do such a thing because in a different reality you have to live by those rules.

Meeting Calia was easy as always, they just had to stop by Arom's Stand. For the tauren it was a bit more complicated. Thanks to the binoculars Dereck was carrying, they saw that they were still at Anyport, but Wrathion offered to do the job. The dragon raced down the small cove, tumbling down the cliffs until he reached the water. He approached by sea and used his magic to attract Ebyssian's attention easily, the other dragon noticed right away. Both dragons went to a secluded part where Wrathion told him that they were all waiting near the portal. Even so, they took a lot of time. They were waiting for fifteen minutes and there still was no sign of them, Dereck began to walk around in a circle while Tess chatted with Calia. Wrathion sat a little way, sitting on a stone under the sunlight to dry himself a bit. Anduin was walking at first too, but decided to talk to Wrathion because he was worried.

"Wrathion, did you think of any way to avoid the illusions in there?" Anduin asked as he sat down next to him.

"No. Those are the rules of that reality and they can't be broken. Only Gorak Tul can modify that." the young king gave a sad look, but Wrathion didn't react. Then Anduin looked closely at the scarf the dragon was wearing, it was totally dry.

"Have you dried that fast? It's not so sunny..."

"I also use my body temperature." Anduin tapped the dragon's cheek with his index finger.

"You look so serious. Are you okay? I worry that you took a hard blow from there." Wrathion looked at him at last, but very softly.

"I'm fine, really. This time it won't affect me." Anduin frowned. If he thought of something, why wasn't he sharing it? The young king heard Baine's voice in the background and got up to approach them.

"Hey! It was hard for you to arrive, right?" Baine denied.

"It's just that the road was long and we had to avoid people. Again they let us go without giving much explanation, I'm starting to suspect seriously."

"Don't worry, today we finish with all this." Wrathion said as he approached the portal.

"How will we do it?" Calia asked. "Those… ghosts, or whatever you want to call them, affect."

"Considering that we can't change the rules with which that reality works and there is no spell that helps with it... The solution is not to see anything." Wrathion took off his scarf and used it as a blindfold. If he doesn’t see these ghosts, he has nothing to fear.

"Seriously?" Calia asked, not very convinced.

"Can you think of another solution?"

"No, but I think-"

"You have three options." Wrathion raised his scarf a little to see. "You can enter the Blighted Lands with your eyes covered if you can't stand the illusion. You can enter without having your eyes covered and endure whatever you see. Or you can stay out here and wait. You decide, I'll enter and find Gorak Tul to ask him what we need at once."

"I go with you." Anduin said. "It doesn't affect me that much, it's disturbing but I don't care. But this time when we enter it's better that we hold on, so we won't get lost when entering like the last time, you know."

"Let's go then."

No one would be left out, everyone would bear the mental pressure to end it all once and for all. Ebyssian poured what was left of Drust magic at the base of the portal and reopened it along with Wrathion. The dragon would enter first again so Anduin grabbed him by the shoulders and noticed that Tess grabbed him. Going through the portal was the same as the other time, a disturbing silence, the same dizziness and the feeling of having a lot of vertigo. But something started to go wrong in Anduin's mind. It was a very intense pain that went through his head, worse than last time. It was quite unbearable and he also wanted to vomit. Although he closed his eyes, he still felt in his hands that he was holding Wrathion and decided to stick to him and hug him tight. The headache began to dissipate very slowly after a few seconds.

"Anduin." someone called him, but he wasn't sure who it was. "You're squeezing me." Anduin's eyes snapped open. It was true, he was squeezing Wrathion with all his strength. He slowly pulled away when his balance faltered a bit and he staggered.

"Are you okay, Anduin?" Baine asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, Yes." Anduin replied. "It's just that going through was a bit more painful this time."

"If you're really okay, let's move on." Wrathion said.

"Where?" Calia asked.

"In the diary you found it said that in the center of this reality is where Gorak Tul is, usually controlling everything, so I would start there."

"And how do you know where the center is? Everything seems the same to me…" Dereck said.

"Although I can't see physically, I can perceive the Drust magic. I guess you see it too, Ebyssian."

"So is." answered the old dragon. He then pointed to the left. "That way is where all the magic gathers, it must be the center."

"I don't see where you're pointing at, but I guess it's there." Wrathion pointed in the same direction. "Let's go."

The group moved in that same direction. Anduin had to guide Wrathion a bit to prevent him from colliding with every tree in the forest. It wasn't long before the first Drust began to watch again. They could hear them leaping through tree branches or quickly hiding behind a tree. They quickly realized that they were being analyzed, probably waiting for the best moment to attack, so more than one was already with his hand on his weapon. They kept seeing those hallucinations, but most ignored them or Calia covered her eyes slightly.

They thought that the forest they were in now would be left behind soon as they saw an esplanade nearby. Unfortunately for them, that esplanade wasn't too large, it only gave way to an even denser forest. But above all the treetops, one tree rose much higher, emitting blue light. Now they had no doubt, that symbolized the center, just like the tree in the center of the Crimson Forest. Mayla was the first to step foot into the forest when a Drust leaped from the top of a tree to attack her. Mayla had very good reflexes luckily, before the Drust fell on her, Mayla hit him with her weapon, splitting him in half. There was more movement through the trees, and everyone drew their weapons except the dragons.

"Wow..." Wrathion said. "That's really interesting."

"The what?" Anduin asked.

"I notice it too." Ebyssian said. "They are very few."

"Few?" Tess asked. "Are you sure there are few?"

"I'm sure." Wrathion answered. "If we take into account that many were eliminated during the fall of the coven and that all this time they were kidnapping living people to resurrect them... It was because they are very few, and they are still a very low number. Great…"

Another Drust leapt towards them, but this time it was Dereck who killed it. All the Drust were seen, now is when they should make their way. They all fought side by side, pushing back or eliminating those who approached, the only one who didn't fight was Wrathion because he was leading the way. Those who had powers notice a certain detail, they couldn't use magic or Light, the place didn't allow them. But they also verified that the dragons were right, they weren't many Drust. This time they ran through the forest and got closer and closer to the center. Wrathion felt a big source of power closer, he was sure it was Gorak Tul considering that the Drust that surrounded them didn't have such a big source of power. Like the other forest, upon reaching the center there was a very small esplanade separating the center of the forest and was symbolized by the large tree they saw. But they had to stop for a second. Anduin grabbed Wrathion by the arm and told him that they couldn't pass to the center because the tree trunk blocked the way. They tried to go around it to find a gap, but all they saw was a hole where perhaps one of them could pass by. Neither was amused to separate considering that they were being attacked.

"Do you think you can take care of the Drust?" asked Wrathion.

"If there are really as few as you say, I think so." Baine replied. "Why?"

"I'm going to get in there." Wrathion approached until touching the trunk.

"Wait." Anduin stopped him. "Do you want us to stay here and wait? Really?"

"If you want to go right behind, go ahead, but I think some of you won't fit in here and I can't use my magic to burn everything. There aren't many Drust, you can contain them."

"It's true that they aren't rivals." Tess said. "But you shouldn't go alone." Wrathion parted the wood a bit to make the gap bigger.

"I'm going with you." Anduin offered. "Since I've prevented you from crashing into all the trees, I should keep doing it." Wrathion entered sideways through the gap, guiding himself with his hands.

"Do you fit around here or do I make it bigger?"

"It's okay like that." Anduin put a foot inside when he looked at the others somewhat worried. What if something happened to them? Should they really part? Dereck gestured at him, raised his thumb, and smiled at him.

"Easy, we're strong, some spirits will not harm us." assured the spy. "Kill Gorak Tul and we will keep the Drust at bay."

Anduin nodded and tried to catch up with Wrathion, who was somewhat ahead of him. It was difficult and claustrophobic to pass through the bark wood, the branches that were loose made small cuts on Anduin's arms and legs, small wounds that he would have to heal with the Light later. It took him almost a minute to cross to the other side when he saw what was in the center. The interior of the big tree sheltered a small lake that radiated a blue light too bright for the eye. In the center there was a very small waterfall where the falling water didn't come from anywhere, it appeared right there. The Drust magic that came out of the waterfall was spreading out on the ground. Anduin took a few steps, but Wrathion caught his arm and forced him to stop.

"Watch where you step." said the dragon. "We're in the center, the core of all Drust magic is held here, I don't know what could happen to you if you step on that." Wrathion took a deep breath. "GORAK TUL! I know you are here! I can feel your magic! Show yourself!"

Anduin thought he heard some noise outside the area and thought the others were in trouble, but his attention went to a shadow moving through the trees. Was it Gorak Tul? Was he really going to answer the call? Wrathion also followed that movement with his head, he saw the magic perfectly.

"Does your past horrify you so much?" asked someone in a very deep voice. Anduin felt Wrathion's grip on his arm a little tighter.

"Are you so interested?" Wrathion replied. "Why are you still hiding?"

"You have learned quickly about my magic and how to enter my lands, how did you do it?"

"Your old friend Ulfar sends his regards." Gorak Tul decided to show himself at last. It materialized on the other side of the water and Anduin saw that Lucille was correct with her description.

"I see that Ulfar is still spiteful. But why bother? I see your nature, so I'm sure I never did anything to one of your race, nor to your Void companion." Anduin frowned at the words addressed to him. "And yet I keep hearing news that you kill my people, why?"

"I should ask you that. Why do you kidnap people? Why are you dragging them here? Do you really think you'll get your army back? I've seen what you have now, you have no hope."

"Fool beings... It has nothing to do with recovering my army, I'm trying to save them!" Wrathion placed a finger under the scarf to lift it and look with one eye.

"From what or who?"

"From the traitor!"

Gorak Tul fired a blue beam towards them that could be easily dodged. Wrathion pulled the scarf from his eyes as he returned it to its original place and ran around the water towards Gorak Tul while drawing his weapon. Anduin tried to circle on the other side to cut any escape, but a Drust stood in his way. The young king drew his sword to confront it, but after dodging a few blows he had the feeling that the enemy was very slow or clumsy. It was enough for him only to hit it on the left to destabilize it and take the opportunity to cut off its head when another crossed his path. Seeing how little the other had done, Anduin confronted the other without difficulty. Wrathion was able to easily reach Gorak Tul dodging all the lightning bolts he launched. The dragon tried to strike him with a lunge to start, but narrowly missed. Gorak Tul used his magic on the stones of the place to cover his fist and try to hit Wrathion, but the dragon had too much experience, so he didn’t get hit. For each blow, more stones were falling, especially in his right hand. One of the punches sent Wrathion's weapon away, but when Gorak Tul was about to strike him one last blow, Wrathion drew his dagger and nailed it into the palm of Gorak Tul's right hand. Gorak Tul screamed in pain as he stepped back, the dagger completely pierced his hand and caused him to lose all concentration. When the dagger was removed from his hand, Wrathion jumped to punch him in the nose. From the strength, they both fell to the ground and Wrathion stayed on top of him, placing his knee over his throat so that he wouldn't move. When Anduin calmly disposed of the Drust that blocked his path, he approached them and placed the tip of his sword at Gorak Tul's neck.

"You're a weakling." Wrathion said. "You have no power left. What happened? Did you spend it all to build those monsters you dropped through Drustvar? Yes... that's it, right?"

"You can come back when I feel better if you want." he replied with a rather challenging tone of voice.

"How long should I wait? Years? You're not really dead, that's why your magic isn't perfect. But I must say that I'm impressed that you built this."

"What do you want from me? So much trouble for what? Do you think I'm going to tell you something?"

"I have wasted a lot of time. I had to learn a lot of useless things, waste my time to be able to enter here and find you when there are much more important matters that require my attention. Of course I will make you speak."

"Why did you learn necromancy?" Anduin asked, Gorak Tul glanced at him. "You were a druid, you were supposed to protect life, why did you do it?"

"Return to the Void where you came from, damn servant." Wrathion squeezed Gorak Tul's neck with his knee, almost suffocating him.

"Answer the damn question." said the dragon. Gorak Tul growled and tried to punch him with his left hand, but Wrathion stopped him and without threatening, broke two of his fingers.

"Wrathion…" Anduin motioned for him to calm down a bit as Gorak Tul screamed in pain.

"Answer." Wrathion grabbed him by the jaw to make him look at him. "Why do you have the powers?"

"They left me no choice." Gorak Tul replied. "They were going to destroy us."

"And it didn't occur to you to negotiate?" Wrathion spoke as if he was dealing with a small child.

"I already said that they left us no other option. I had to defend our home and nature didn't give me the necessary help. Don't judge me for that!"

"So you resorted to necromancy? Really? You lose in life and in death... Who taught you those powers?"

"Screw you." Gorak Tul spat on his face. Wrathion just ran his sleeve across his wet cheek and punched him quite angrily.

"Wrathion!" Anduin called, withdrawing his sword. "We need him to speak, you're going to kill him by doing that."

"I'm not killing him until I know…" Wrathion impatiently grabbed his jaw again to make him look at him, but Gorak Tul was stunned. Maybe he punched him a bit too hard. "Who taught you!?"

"The Death... The Death..." he muttered weakly.

"Who was it?"

"Betrayed us all... I wanted to prevent all the dead from ending up at its mercy, I was trying to save them... But I can't do it anymore, you will all end up in its hands once you are dead... Together with the god of the depths... We will all end up in its hands."

"Stop with the nonsense and say it, or I swear you'll regret it." Gorak Tul looked at him and began to laugh.

"Regret? You know what? I want you to be the one who regrets everything. I hope you enjoy the traitor and the god, because you are not going to get rid of it."

Gorak Tul reached for the dagger and, before either of them reacted, he slit his throat. Wrathion could only react when black blood began to gush out and he withdrew his hand, totally surprised. Anduin had to blink several times to believe it, Gorak Tul just killed himself in front of them, leaving a lot of questions hanging in the air.

"But…" Anduin managed to say.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Wrathion shouted, completely angry and grabbing Gorak Tul by the leather furs. "Why!?"

"Leave him!" Anduin sheathed his sword and approached. "There is nothing to do, leave him."

"Dammit…"

There was something like an earthquake and the light of the Drust magic began to fade. In the center where the waterfall was, the water stopped flowing.

"Shit..." Wrathion murmured as he stood up and picked up his dagger. “This place is linked to Gorak Tul's life, the presence of the Drust magic has disappeared, it will be completely destroyed.”

“We must find the others." Wrathion ran to recover his weapon and returned to Anduin.

"Let's go!"

Wrathion grabbed Anduin by the wrist and they ran together to the gap through which they entered. As everything started shaking and everything got darker, it was difficult to get through, but they managed to get out. They didn't see the group nearby and called them until they ran into them a few meters away. Tess and Baine were injured with deep cuts while the others had superficial injuries, but it wasn't serious. Before anyone asked anything, Wrathion ordered them to run to the portal and return before that place disappeared with them inside. They ran through the woods, helping the wounded to walk. Anduin realized that he stopped seeing those ghosts from his past and everything was getting darker and trembling. They found the portal, it was still open, but some stones were on the way. Ebyssian and Wrathion pushed them away as the others passed one by one as best they could. The first was Calia followed by Tess and Dereck. Those who remained helped to remove the last stones for the tauren to pass without any problem, Wrathion was the last to pass.

On the other side everyone dropped to the ground once they were sure they were safe. The portal was open for a few minutes until it began to contract and exploded, leaving an even larger hole in the wall. Curiously, night had fallen, time passed faster while they were in the Blighted Lands. Calia and Anduin were the first to get up to attend to Tess and Baine. Tess had a rather deep cut on the right side of her abdomen and Baine had a long cut on his right forearm. At least it wasn't serious and with the help of the Light they could solve it. The rest of the injuries were superficial and involved even less work.

"What happened there?" Dereck asked. "We were fighting the remaining Drust and they suddenly evaporated right in front of us. Then everything started shaking.”

"Gorak Tul is dead." Anduin announced. "He has committed suicide right under our noses." they all frowned, confused.

"Did he commit suicide?" Calia began. "Did you get the information at least?"

"No, we didn't get anything. I think Gorak Tul felt cornered and preferred to cut his throat rather than reveal information."

"Are you kidding me?" Tess asked. "Has all this been of no use?"

"He wasn't cornered!" Wrathion said, still angry. "He has committed suicide for the same reason that I would let N'Zoth win sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Anduin asked.

"He wants to watch the world burn." the young king blinked. "And deep down I understand it. When I come across hypocritical or very blind people, I think I would like to see N'Zoth win just to see them suffer. Obviously I'm not going to do it, but Gorak Tul did. It has nothing to do with being cornered or not, his last words are quite enlightening, he wanted to screw us."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't hit him so hard and calmed down..."

"Are you saying it's my fault?" asked the dragon, indignant.

"No, I didn't say that. I think the situation could have been handled better and because of that mistake we haven't obtained anything."

"The only thing that I get is that there is someone in the Shadowlands, and it seems to be the biggest fish, perhaps even the owner of the dead, has allied with N’Zoth. And if it's the Shadowlands creator itself who has teamed up with N'Zoth, we're fucked, we're so done! Gorak Tul believed that he was saving us from them by murdering us and transforming us into Drust. That's it, that's all." Wrathion walked nervously and could only vent his rage by punching a rock and splitting it in half. "What a waste of time! Dammit! _Si dartak nomeno!_

Wrathion knew he should get away from them if he was angry, so he walked north where there was a cliff to get some air. Anduin finished healing Tess' wound as best he could, though she would need a little rest, when Ebyssian got up.

"I think I will talk to him." he said, referring to Wrathion.

"No." Anduin got up. "Let me talk to him, let's say I speak his language."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better if you take care of the wounds?"

"Calia can handle these small wounds. Trust me, I better go."

Ebyssian didn't argue, he was aware that Anduin can relax Wrathion. The group stood there, bandaging wounds and regaining their breath from the race they just did. The only thing they could rejoice in was that they had completely ended the Drust threat, but the lack of information weighed heavily on their minds.

Anduin saw that Wrathion hit everything in his path until he reached the edge of the cliff where he sat on a stone and put his hands to his head. Without saying anything, the young king sat to his left and stared at Wrathion's hand reddened from hitting trees and stones.

"Can I?" Anduin asked, pointing to the hand. Wrathion didn't reply, but held out his hand for Anduin to cure him. He was only glad to touch Anduin's soft hand.

"I'm sorry, is that..."

"It's okay." when he finished the cure, Anduin decided to stroke Wrathion's head like the last time to reassure him completely.

"What are you doing?"

"Killing you with kindness. Sometimes it works for some people." Wrathion tilted his head very slightly towards Anduin.

"Even so there are things that I haven't understood in this story."

"Like what?"

"I have the vague feeling that all this hasn't happened by chance." Anduin stopped.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know how to tell you. Gorak Tul believed he was saving us from something dangerous. This being that helps N'Zoth from the Shadowlands may be a creator, but Gorak Tul was stealing the dead from it... and now we have killed him?"

"If it's not a coincidence it would mean that we have done something wrong. But the people of Drustvar were in danger, we couldn't just leave it like that..."

"There are things that don't fit into this story anyway... But there is something that..." Wrathion stared at Anduin. "Why did Gorak Tul say that about you?" Anduin blinked.

"Said what?"

"That you were a servant of the Void." Anduin couldn't answer at that moment. "I know you have shadows in you, I perceive it as I can perceive the Light, although not as much as I would like because I don't have those powers. But I have been concerned that Gorak Tul only mentioned the Void. Why?"

"I don't know... I'm as surprised as you are." Wrathion frowned slightly.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Anduin felt the voice speak to him again: _You promised not to listen, to not pay attention. If they find out now that you are doing it, what will they think about you? They will all be angry._ The young king felt a certain nervousness.

"I'm fine, it was just a stupid comment."

"Anduin, if something happens to you, tell me, okay?"

"Sure, I always do."

No, he wasn't doing it, and the worst part is that he didn't understand why. There was something in the Void's voice that prevented him from making decisions. It was as if it used a mind control through a few words, if the voice said he shouldn't say anything, Anduin wouldn't do it. That made him realize that he had made a big mistake, one that might be too late to fix.

At what point did he let the voice gain so much influence over him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you remember chapter 27? Yes? No? Okay.  
Anduin is fucked, don't go to the dark side :(
> 
> Something important that has to be announced: I have no more chapters. Until now I had everything already written, so I could update quickly, but that's over. Now we all have to deal with my mental blocks and my depressive moods, so maybe there will be no updates in a long time, or maybe I get in the mood and write a quick one, I don't know, I no longer control my moods or nothing. Perhaps also as I was all this time translating rather than writing new chapters made me lose my rhythm a bit, maybe now I recover it. In any case, if by any chance you like this fic and you want to know when it's updated, make sure you have subscribed or you can follow me on Twitter (@llStonesll) since there I also usually announce when I upload something. I'll try my best, I promise.  
Meanwhile you can feed me with some kudos or comments, it's the only thing that makes my day.
> 
> Until next time!


	40. Kidnapping at the Shrine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, it's been a while. It's been a long month, I also wanted to take a break after writing and translating that 10k words chapter. You may think I came back motivated, but not really too much. This month I have seen things in perspective and I have seen that it's not really worth doing this so much, it gives me a lot of headache to try to connect everything at all times and not leave plot holes for so little support. Anyway, writer's problems I guess. Don't feel bad, there are people out there who gave me a lot of support to post this and "were going to read it" and haven't read anything at all, it can always be worse xd
> 
> I hope you like the chapter.  
Sorry for grammar mistakes.

As late as it was, the tauren couldn't stay there. They didn't see it coming that time passed so fast in the Blighted Lands, they had to return and report that they were alive. Baine was a little saddened by the fact that Gorak Tul committed suicide and gave no information, now he would definitely never know the truth behind Sylvanas' motivations, although he was surprised by the fact that such a dangerous ally of N'Zoth was confirmed. For now, Baine, Mayla, and Ebyssian said goodbye to them temporarily. They have probably earned a lot of mistrust for disappearing so long and would be confined for a while, but they promised to write to each other and not lose contact. Once they were separated, Anduin and Calia used the Light to illuminate the way back to Arom's Stand. They arrived at the village at dawn, only the guards were awake. One of them ran out to warn Lucille. When they entered the house, Lucille greeted them with a sleepy face, but she was very relieved to see them.

"What a relief!" she exclaimed. "You all disappeared suddenly and I feared the worst. What happened?"

"We have great news." said Calia. "Gorak Tul is dead." Lucille opened her mouth to say something, but words didn't come out.

"W-what?" she managed to say.

"We entered the Blighted Lands, Gorak Tul no longer exists, Drustvar is finally at peace."

"Are you serious?" Lucille was still surprised.

"Wrathion and I saw it with our own eyes." Anduin confirmed. "I suppose I should say that you are free to rebuild Drustvar as you wish." Lucille's eyes were filled with gratitude. She looked at her personal guard for a few seconds and they both shared that joy.

"I can hardly believe it!" Lucille went to shake everyone's hands. "Thank you! Thank you! Thanks for getting rid of the Drust! I will make sure that everyone in Drustvar, each and every one of them, knows of your achievement. You are true heroes!" Lucille smiled at them. "Is there anything I can do for all? Whatever, I will give you whatever."

"Well..." Anduin began. "Do you mind if we sleep here today?"

That was never a problem, it was late and they didn't want to make a trip to Boralus. This time there were more free rooms so everyone stayed in the building except Wrathion. The dragon said that he didn't want to sleep right now as he was still mentally disturbed by Gorak Tul's decision, he preferred to be alone looking at the night sky on a roof. As they were all quite tired, they didn't give many explanations and went to sleep, only Calia stayed awake to speak with Lucille.

Anduin yawned as he got into bed. He still had to heal his superficial wounds, but he was so tired that he would leave it for another time. Silence filled the room, and adim moonlight came through one of the windows. It was a bit chilly unfortunately and he wished Wrathion had stayed to avoid it. Unfortunately for him, someone started making noise just as he was falling asleep. Someone in the bathroom on the other side of the room began to brush their teeth in the most obnoxious and noisy possible way, even echoing in Anduin's head. The young king pulled the sheet up to his head and shrugged, perhaps he should say something to make them stop.  
But Anduin suddenly uncovered himself and sat staring at the entrance to the bathroom, there was supposed to be no one but him in that room. The door to the bathroom was open, so it only showed pure darkness inside and Anduin didn't know what to do. He summoned the Light in his hand and tried to illuminate inside, but he only saw the toilet, if he wanted to see the rest he had to enter. With all the indecision in the world, Anduin got out of bed to get closer. He was scared, his heart was beating fast for it, and whoever was brushing was doing it really fast. Anduin entered the bathroom and illuminated with the Light that hadn't disappeared, but there was no one. The young king scratched his head, the noise stopped and he didn't know what to think. Perhaps his mind being half asleep produced it? But as he took two steps outside, the noise returned. Anduin turned around, but no longer dared to enter. He stepped back to the bed and climbed back in without taking his eyes off the bathroom. He would probably stay up all night, he wouldn't look away because he imagined that at any moment something would come out. Why did that have to happen to him? What has he done to deserve this? Anduin had to find a solution or in the future he would have very serious sleep disorders.

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Anduin wore the biggest dark circles in the world. It was impossible to sleep, and when he thought he was going to fall, a noise put him on guard again. At least nothing happened to him physically, but he was exhausted. They all realized that when they saw him and asked, but Anduin only limited himself to saying that he slept badly. Lucille gathered them at Arom's Stand Square before they returned to Boralus where everyone was there. It was a few formal words where Lucille proclaimed them heroes for defeating the Drust and Gorak Tul. They all cheered fervently, grateful to finally be rid of that evil. And yet none of the group was entirely proud. They were glad they had helped all of Drustvar, but the lack of information weighed on some minds, especially Wrathion's. Anduin spoke for everyone, told them they did what they should do since they were part of the Alliance and wished them the best luck in the world now that they could fully recover. After a few minutes where they were almost asked for autographs, they decided to go back to Boralus. Calia went with them, her work on Drustvar was over and she wanted to help them against N'Zoth now, though perhaps she would return to visit them sometime.

Boralus was unusually calm when they arrived. It was as if from one day to another a big funeral had taken place and now the city was in mourning. Each one went their own way for now, they had to report what had happened in Drustvar. Wrathion on his own said that he would go to rest his eyes in his room and that he preferred not to be disturbed for a few hours. Anduin had the same idea, he hadn't slept at all that night and mentally it was affecting him, but he was worried that the same thing would happen. Anduin was walking up the stairs to his room rubbing his eyes when he heard his name.

"Anduin!" the young king looked back. Genn sprinted up the stairs to catch up with him and seemed quite nervous. "I haven't heard from you since yesterday!"

"Sorry. Time passed faster in the Blighted Lands, so I couldn't send any notification." Anduin smiled weakly. "But we have freed Drustvar from Gorak Tul, he no longer exists."

"Yes, cool." Genn sighed, and just by his expression, Anduin saw the bad news coming. "We need to talk urgently. Now."

Yes, those words were definitely a red flag for bad news.

Anduin knocked on Wrathion's door an hour later, but the dragon didn't respond. The young king hesitated to bother him because Wrathion didn't usually rest much, but what had happened was serious. In the end Anduin decided to enter without waiting for permission, the door was never locked. Wrathion was lying on his side with his hands under the pillow. Anduin noticed that he didn't seem very calm, he was frowning and he had little spasms.

"Wrathion." Anduin called from afar, but the dragon didn't move. Anduin decided to get closer and got on the bed to shake him. "Wake up." as soon as he put a hand on the dragon's shoulder, he woke up suddenly grabbing Anduin's wrist as he pulled out his dagger from under the pillow and brought it dangerously close to the young king's neck. Fortunately, he stopped at the last second.

"Fuck… Anduin, by all the titans, if you wake me up like this one day I'll hurt you."

"Why do you have a dagger under the pillow?" Wrathion released him.

"It's an old habit. Don't you have weapons nearby when you sleep?"

"Not under my pillow."

"Why did you wake me up?" Anduin's face changed, showing big concern and doubts. Wrathion just looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

"Something happened while we were away." Wrathion frowned slightly.

"What happened?"

"While we were away there was an... attack."

"Where?"

"At the Shrine of the Storm." Wrathion took a few seconds to recognize the name.

"Leo was there, is he okay?" Anduin's eyes couldn't hide his concern.

"The Horde has kidnapped him along with other Tidesages."

"What!?" Wrathion grabbed the dagger and got up from the bed, nervous.

"Wait, wait." Anduin tried to calm him down. "It's not the end for him."

"What exactly happened?"

"According to Genn, it happened while we were in the Blighted Lands. Some of the initiates hid from everything and explained it. Apparently they were doing some tests with the currents when some Horde ships approached. There was a fight but they took several Tidesages, Leo and Pike among them."

"Why?" Anduin just shrugged.

"Nobody knows. We will have a meeting now to discuss what we should do."

"Let me attend that meeting, I want to save him."

"That doesn't depend on me, Jaina wouldn't let you in-"

"I don't care what Jaina wants!" Anduin placed both hands on the dragon's cheeks and made him look into his eyes.

"Calm down. You can't go to the meeting because only leaders and people with titles close to them can go. But when it's over, I'll tell you everything down to the last detail, okay?"

It could be said that Wrathion wasn't entirely convinced, but neither did he object. It was stupid, even though Wrathion told himself a thousand times that he should never make any kind of affectionate connection with anyone, he had fallen into the trap once again. He shouldn't have grown fond of Leo, now that he knows he's in danger, his stress and nervousness levels got too high. Knowing the Alliance as such, they would surely make a decision too late to save him.

Anyway, Wrathion accompanied Anduin and Genn to the room where they would hold the meeting. The dragon would stay nearby, waiting impatiently for it to finish. The room was the usual one, it was starting to look like a second home by now. Anduin sat next to Genn, the only one who gave him some calm among all the leaders. They all arrived almost at the same time and sat down. The only ones who wouldn't attend that meeting because they were too far away were Tyrande, Velen and Muradin, but letters have already been sent explaining what happened. There was an awkward silence once they were all seated.

"So…" Genn started the conversation. "What exactly happened?"

"They used a distraction." Jaina explained. "Many here were notified of the Horde attacks in the Valley, some of you offered me help." Jaina looked at Moira and Mekkatorque. "But we didn't realize that the attacks were... How to say it? Moving away?"

"What do you mean?" Anduin asked.

"At first it was on farms across the East, that's why we believed they were trying to spread famine. But they were moving further and further to the west, yesterday afternoon we went near Fort Daelin to stop an attack."

"Yes, I helped you in that one." Genn confirmed.

"Literally the entire Valley separated us from the Shrine of the Storm. All the warriors of the Horde that were there had no intention of looting or simply fighting, they were only holding us back. By the time we realized it, it was too late. A worker nearby the Shrinewarned us that there were ships attacking the Shrine. It was almost nightfall when we got there and the only thing we found was a massacre. The Horde may have sacrificed some of their own in that distraction near Fort Daelin, but compared to the Tidesages they killed… Only a few survived."

"What have they been able to tell?" Anduin asked, very worried.

"I was with them all night, they are a bit traumatized. They say the Horde suddenly arrived, that they were elite warriors and killed some and took others. They were lucky that the Horde didn't see them."

"They took the most important ones, right? Leo and Pike..."

"Curiously they didn't make distinctions. They killed and kidnapped both initiators and experts. With Leo and Pike there is no doubt about it, one is the leader of the Tidesages and the other the Lord of the Valley."

"But why? And why now?"

"As I understand it, in previous attacks they asked the locals questions about the Tidesages, right?" Genn asked.

"Yes, but they didn't get much." Jaina crossed her arms. "I also explained that they asked people with very basic education who didn't understand very well what all that was about. I guess that explains why there were no distinctions..."

"Well, I think the reason right now is the least of the problems." Anduin said. "We can only speculate. There is something more important, rescuing them. Where have they been taken?"

"I sent the fleet after them. We have very few Tidesages left, but I think they can reach them. I don't think they will take them to Zandalar, we have already been there once and destroyed part of the fleet and the harbor, so they will surely take them to Orgrimmar."

"That's a long journey... Maybe they can catch up before they get there. But if they arrive…" Anduin didn't want to imagine what could happen to them if they reached the city of Orgrimmar.

"Have they attacked the Tidesages because they are a strong pillar in the Kul Tiras fleet?" asked Moira.

"Maybe." Jaina replied. "Or maybe it's revenge, or maybe…"

Jaina couldn't finish the sentence as the door suddenly opened. Anduin saw that they all looked very surprised before turning around himself and seeing with his eyes that those who appeared were none other than Turalyon and Alleria. Anduin's jaw almost dropped at the sight of them. What are they doing here? When did they arrive? Did they think none of them knew what they did? But all those questions were pushed aside as soon as he noticed how they both looked. When Anduin met them, they both had a very noble and heroic look, their clothes, armor and weapons were well cared for and although they spent years in a war against the Burning Legion it didn't seem that it took a physical toll on them. But all that was gone. They looked emaciated, the dark circles and wrinkles were very marked, their hair was long and totally unkempt, as if they had aged a few decades, and all the clothes and weapons were dirty with many scratches. What had happened to them?

"Sorry for coming unannounced." Turalyon said with a voice a little more muffled than usual. "But we heard what happened in the Valley and we came as soon as we could to help."

"Excuse me?" Genn said, a little irritated. "You have been missing for weeks without giving a sign of life and now you come here as if nothing happened? Not to mention that we all know what you've done."

"What have we done?" Alleria asked in a voice too deep.

"We know about the blood elf slaughter."

"Does it bother you to kill the enemy?" asked Turalyon.

"Enemy?" Anduin said. "Killing civilians is killing the enemy?"

"I know you are still too young to understand-"

"Don't you know that you committed a war crime?"

"Don't exaggerate. They attacked us first, we were just scouting."

"It doesn't matter who attacked first, what were you doing there anyway?"

"Most of the continent is controlled by the Alliance." Alleria answered. "The only thing we don't have under control is the north because the Sin'dorei are still there. The answer to your question is obvious."

"The point is, you didn't say anything." Genn intervened. "You didn't even leave a note and it's something we could talk about. Tyrande and Velen are taking care of those territories now and you didn't even tell them about this."

"There was no time, we had to do it." Anduin frowned at those words. It sounded more like an internal monologue than an own reasoning.

"Don't you realize that your actions have brought misfortune?" Anduin asked. "With the slaughter you did, now the Horde has taken revenge. They assaulted the Valley and have kidnapped or killed a large number of Tidesages, including Pike and Leo. Not to mention all the looting."

"I disagree." said Turalyon. "The attacks in the Valley and the looting started long before we did anything."

"That's true." Jaina confirmed. "The witnesses of the crusade that Turalyon and Alleria carried out confirmed that they started after the first attack of the Horde. Technically the Horde keeps attacking first, you could almost say that you took revenge for all the looting they did."

"Wait a moment." Anduin rubbed his eyes with one hand and looked at Jaina seriously. "Are you agreeing with them or am I imagining it?"

"What I'm saying is that they should have proposed it." Jaina leaned on her elbows. "If they had said so, perhaps those attacks could have been carried out better in elf territory."

"You are right about that." Turalyon said, nodding. "As we were already in those lands we rushed a bit, we should have called for reinforcements. But it is not too late, we have them almost expelled from the Ghostlands, we need only one last push. If we can push them back into Eversong Woods, we could siege them and have all the Eastern Kingdoms under control."

"Are you really serious?" Anduin asked almost desperately with an incredulous look. "All you did is a crime, unarmed civilians killed without reporting anything. Do you really think you have the right to propose something like that?"

"Anduin," Jaina called. "we're at war, everything is permitted. They are right, if we expel the Sin'dorei we will achieve a huge victory."

"Sorry, Jaina..." Genn intervened. "War crimes exist for a reason, not everything is permitted. And boiling down the reason to expel the Sin'dorei to a revenge for what the Horde did in the Valley is petty, we are not thirsty killers."

"Does a reason for conquest or battles seem better to you?" Alleria asked.

"How about a reason that does not make us look like monsters?" Anduin said, clenching his fists. "We cannot murder innocents, let's not cross that line, we are not Sylvanas. I can't believe what I'm hearing. And in case you have forgotten, the reason for this meeting was the rescue of our people, not some kind of revenge against a people that, now that I think about it, has not participated in any of this."

"I have sent the fleet after them." Jaina said. "If we reach them before they reach their destination it will be solved, if they don't reach them, then we will think something else. But this Sin'dorei thing is very interesting. It is not a crime to besiege an enemy city."

"And we return to the starting point." Genn said, wearily. "That's not the point, rather that the two of them have done on their own…"

Anduin stopped listening to what they were saying, he was starting to lose his temper. His fists and teeth were clenched with anger. It was horrible for him to hear those things, how they talked about the subject trying to justify that what Turalyon and Alleria did wasn't so bad and that expelling, or rather exterminating, as Turalyon was saying now, wasn't something questionable. He couldn't hear how Turalyon, Alleria and Jaina tried to make plans, he couldn't see how Jaina planned that while forgetting that people, her people, were going to a horrible destination. Again her thirst for revenge got in the way.

_You would love that they shut their mouths forever, right?_

Any angry emotions Anduin had, faded the instant the voice spoke to him. It gave way to fear, fear that it was speaking to him at an important moment like this.

_Would you like me to do it? I can make them shut up if you want. You just have to say yes, or you can even just nod and I will. Come on, I know deep down you want it…_

Anduin noticed it, he could feel the energies of the Void in his hands ready to go. He could feel the power and the voice saying "silence them all" over and over again. He had to do something, the shadows were going to manifest and hurt, he was sure of it. He had to flee, he had to stop whatever it was going to happen.

Without thinking, Anduin got up from his chair and excused himself saying that he needed to go out for a few seconds. Most of them just nodded, not caring that the king of Stormwind was leaving, only Jaina stared, frowning, and Genn followed him with his eyes with a slightly worried gaze, he was the only one who noticed the panic in Anduin's eyes.

The young king walked out and closed the door. He walked quickly a few meters away and leaned against the wall with his shoulder while clutching his arms as if he felt cold. By all the Light, what had happened to him there? The shadows almost came out and he didn't want anyone to know. Maybe it was the stress of the moment, it was common to lose control due to stress.

"Anduin?" the young king didn't realize that Genn had followed him. The old wolf looked at him with big concern. "Are you okay? You don't look well, you're somewhat pale."

"I'm fine, sorry."

"I know things are a bit ugly in there, but you have to go back."

"I know, I just need a little moment." Genn massaged his shoulders a bit.

"Take a deep breath, okay? We'll fix it."

Anduin nodded and watched Genn returning to the chaotic meeting. He decided to take a few deep breaths before entering and facing them again. As he entered, he saw that they were still discussing the pros and cons of attacking the Sin'dorei. Anduin no longer wanted to participate in that conversation, he was exhausted from looping over and over again with the reasons, although he was grateful that Genn supported him.

"Whatever you do," Anduin said, a little tired after a while. "I'm not going to participate in a war crime. I hope that when you realize the mistake, it does not weigh too heavily on your consciences."

"We weren't counting on you anyway." said Turalyon. Anduin had to bite his tongue.

"I will take care of what you are ignoring, the rescue of the Tidesages." Jaina sighed.

"I already told you that I sent the fle-"

"It will not be enough. I will get the necessary contact since you won't help me."

"And who are you going to ask for help?" Anduin smiled slightly.

"I'm still not sure, but I'm pretty sure that someone will help me a lot."

Somewhere, at that very moment, Baine sneezed.

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After the meeting, Genn went with Anduin to eat. Genn wanted to know what kind of rescue plan he had in mind and who he was going to ask for help, but Anduin couldn't explain that a member of the Horde could help him because they have seen each other and collaborated for weeks. As the meeting lasted longer than expected, Genn and Anduin thought they would eat alone, but Wrathion joined when they were sitting down.

"Where have you been?" Anduin asked, remembering that Wrathion was very interested in the subject.

"I was talking to Calia. I had to explain what had happened and we received a letter from Lucille saying that things were going well in Drustvar now. What has happened in the Valley?"

"There really is no more information. During the night they attacked the Shrine of the Storm and they either killed or kidnapped Tidesages, Pike and Leo among them. They are being taken to Orgrimmar by ship, Jaina has sent the Kul Tiras fleet after them."

"They won't arrive in time." Wrathion slumped a little in the chair. "They already have an advantage."

"The worst thing is that because of Turalyon and Alleria that issue has been put aside, nobody could contribute ideas because everyone focused on them."

"Turalyon and Alleria?"

"Yes," Genn said. "they both showed up at the meeting."

"And I would say they have gone crazy..." Anduin looked at Wrathion after saying that. "Do you know if the Azerite has serious side effects? I mean... mentally speaking."

"I can't tell you for sure, remember that the Azerite is something new. I don't know if prolonged use has very serious effects on the mind. Although considering that N'Zoth infected it..."

"I wish you could see them, they look very bad as if they had aged a couple of decades. And the worst thing is that they have become radical!"

"Why?"

"They don't care at all about the atrocities they have committed, they don't see anything bad and want to continue. And the worst thing is that they have convinced some to help them kill more blood elves."

"Well, that remains to be seen." Genn tried to reassure him. "They have proposed it and some seemed to agree after talking a while, but they haven't agreed anything yet. Maybe we can solve it."

"Solve it?" for some reason, Anduin felt all his blood boil, especially in his head. "It won't be solved! They're genocidal! And the only thing they are going to bring to the Alliance is misfortune, they will drag us all to a carnage." Anduin hit the table hard. "I should put them in jail to stop them from spreading those ideas! I should silence them and not let them out!"

"Anduin." Genn looked at him seriously and waved his hand down. "Relax, you're saying things out of place. Silencing opinions isn't something we do, things have to be talked about. Calm down."

Genn was right, Anduin was losing it very fast and that was something quite unusual for him. He assumed the stress was getting to him too much and tried to calm himself down, what he said was wrong. Wrathion preferred not to say anything to him at that moment, he only looked at Anduin somewhat confused.

"Sorry." the young king apologized after drinking some water.

"It's okay. Now..." Genn put his plate aside. "What kind of plan do you have for the rescue? You're very mysterious with that subject."

"Ah, that..." Anduin looked at Wrathion. "I need you to do me a little favor."

"Which one?" asked the dragon. Anduin had to be discreet in front of Genn, he hoped Wrathion would understand what he wanted.

"Well, I thought you could send a help letter to… you know, the others."

"Are you sure about that?" Wrathion raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

"Yes." Anduin was glad that Wrathion caught it.

"What's the secret?" Genn asked. "Why do you talk with riddles?"

"It's a secret." Anduin shrugged.

"Hey, I don't want secrets." Wrathion leaned close to Anduin's ear, as if he wanted to whisper something to him, but said nothing. Genn turned the napkin into a ball and threw it at Wrathion. "What did I just say!?"

"He didn't say anything to me, calm down." Anduin said, smiling.

"I don't know what kind of trouble you're going to get into, because I know you will, that's why I'd rather you tell me."

"Don't worry, trust me, okay?" Genn wasn't too sure. Anduin got up and grabbed Wrathion by the arm to take him away. "Also it's not sure I'm going to do that, so it's not worth mentioning now. If in the end I carry it out, I'll tell you, okay?" Genn sighed heavily.

"Be careful, please."

Anduin nodded and led Wrathion outside. There were no people around, so they could talk calmly about what Anduin wanted to do.

"Can you write to Ebyssian about that matter?" Anduin asked, but Wrathion winced.

"I thought you didn't want to mix faction issues between you guys."

"I know, but I have no choice. You heard that the others will do nothing but send the fleet after them, so..."

"I suspected they wouldn't do anything."

"If they reach Orgrimmar they’re doomed, but if Baine can get them out of there, then they will have a chance. Please…"

"Okay, on one condition." Anduin looked at him, waiting. "Calm down a bit. I can see that you're very nervous, you should take a break."

"It's not like I can afford that luxury..."

"Do it. You need to keep a cool head for what may happen."

"Now that I remember... I'm going back to that abandoned library, are you coming?"

"What? Why?"

"I want to check if there's anything else there. Maybe there is a book with answers to questions we have. We were lucky with that journal, so why not?"

"A voice forces you to go there once and you want to go back? Do you drink coffee or alcohol for breakfast?"

"It's not a big deal, I just want to check that I didn't overlook anything. But if you don't want to come then I'll have to go alone…" Anduin tried to add sadness to his voice.

"Have fun, I'm not going there."

That emotional blackmail didn't go too well for him, Wrathion was already walking away. Anduin felt frustration, he wanted to go with him but lately he had a hard time speaking up his mind with almost everyone. It was the same with Genn, he was very grateful to him for supporting him in the meeting and Anduin only rewarded him by not counting on him. He wasn't feeling comfortable with his decisions lately.

Anyway, he followed his plan, he wanted to go back to that library, just to be sure there was nothing else in there. He got a bit lost at first because he didn't remember the way very well as it was Dereck who led the first time, but he ended up finding the stairs after a while. It was just as he saw it last time. The padlock was on the ground so the door was open. Anduin walked over and opened it very slowly trying not to make a noise even though the hinges squeaked. It was still dark, the musty smell hadn't changed and for a second he doubted whether to go inside or not. Anduin was so deep in thought that he didn't notice someone approaching from behind. Wrathion leaned close to his ear.

“Boo.”

Anduin jumped and gave a little cry. When he turned around and saw Wrathion, he frowned and without realizing he was already trying to hit him with a few punches that Wrathion easily stopped.

"Are you stupid or what!?" Anduin said, indignantly.

"Your reaction was worth it." Wrathion grabbed Anduin's wrists to make him stop.

"Idiot, you're an idiot." Anduin sighed and stopped. "Didn't you say you weren't coming?"

"Yeah, but since I know how much you love being alone in the dark with me, then..."

"Yes, because this way I can't see your face, idiot." Anduin sighed again to get rid of the fright and looked at Wrathion seriously. "Why have you come?"

"I wanted to check one thing."

Anduin only raised an eyebrow and Wrathion entered the library. The young king followed him and created a ball of Light in his hand to see. They both looked into the small room, but there wasn't something different. There was only dust, mold, broken bookshelves, and ruined books. Anduin thought it was a waste of time, he didn't see anything interesting in there.

"Where did you find the diary?" Wrathion asked suddenly.

"Over there." Anduin pointed to one of the shelves in the corner and Wrathion went to inspect. The young king approached and pointed to a pile of books. “I saw it under these books." Wrathion looked, but frowned and shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"This is bad."

"Why?"

"Because everything that has happened is no coincidence. Look at this place, look at the deteriorated condition of all the books." Wrathion showed him the diary. "And look at the state of this." Anduin reflected. That journal was very well-kept in comparison.

"Someone left it here for me to find. But who can it be?"

"Do you remember Uldir?" Anduin nodded. "Do you remember when we were returning to Boralus I told you about my suspicions that there was a mole in the Alliance because everything was very calculated?"

"Do you think it was the mole?"

"I can't think of another answer for now. If the mole is a servant of N'Zoth, then it's obvious the Void’s voice took you here... "

"And what will all this mean?"

"It means we've fallen into a trap. For some reason, they wanted us to kill Gorak Tul and… I'm not quite sure of the real consequences. While we were gone, the attack and kidnapping of the Tidesages happened, I don't know if that was the objective or is just another distraction for something worse."

"It may be the Tidesages thing, but organizing that attack so that in the end it's a distraction from something seems too convoluted."

"Not with N'Zoth. Remember that in Uldir he rushed and underestimated us, but N'Zoth knows that we can read the easy actions quickly, he will go for something more complex now. We have to rescue the Tidesages, that's for sure, but we have to be alert because I smell that the big blow will be elsewhere."

Wrathion was rarely wrong, so Anduin trusted him. It was frustrating having a mole around laying traps like this, now he was paranoid that defeating the Drust was a serious mistake and that they helped N'Zoth with some mysterious plan. For now there was nothing he could do but speculate and he shouldn't allow it, he didn't want to be distracted from the rescue. Wrathion had already sent the letter to Ebyssian so it was a matter of waiting for a reply.

When they both wanted to leave the Proudmoore Keep, Jaina stopped them, she wanted to talk to Anduin about getting help. Once again he would have to lie to Jaina because he didn't trust her to take kindly his deal with Baine, or at least not as well as Genn would. Anduin said goodbye to Wrathion temporarily, prayed that time would pass quickly and that nothing would happen to the Tidesages.

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Fear. He had never felt such intense fear before, not even when he knew he had been controlled by an old god. Leo didn't separate from Pike for a second. Clinging to his arm, the little boy couldn't guess where they were being led. The ship smelled bad and not only because of the saltpeter, it was very neglected. They had been sailing for days when they finally stopped. Leo didn't recognize the place, he only sensed that it was a Horde city because of the races and flags. Some orcs and Forsaken forced the small group to follow with shoves and some blows. They were led to an authoritative troll.

"Him." said the troll, pointing to a high-ranking Tidesage. "And the two of them." he pointed to Leo and Pike. "Take the three of them to the outer jails, take the others down."

Leo imagined they would be put in an open-air jail, but they were taken underground in what appeared to be an underground district. The three selected were left in a totally closed and cold dungeon not far away while the others were taken even further into the earth. The time they waited was almost eternal, the three were scared and in the dark, they didn't hear anything from outside. Almost when they imagined that no one would come, the door opened. Although Leo had never seen her, he recognized her from the descriptions. The person who entered was Sylvanas, the Warchief, accompanied by a tauren and two undead, one of whom left a torch to illuminate.

"I want to be alone with the child." Sylvanas said. The tauren didn't move, just looked at her frowning as the others led both adults away. Leo looked fearfully at Pike, waiting for him to do something to prevent it, but under the circumstances it was impossible. The tauren wasn't trusting, but he had to leave anyway. Sylvanas approached once they were alone and Leo backed away until he was in a corner. "It's been a long time since we've met."

"What?" but it was the first time they met face to face.

"Don't try to hide it. It has been a few months since we spoke in Stormsong Valley when you let me bring my army into battle." Leo shook his head.

"No, I didn't… It wasn't me." Sylvanas raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really want to make me believe that you have a brother identical to you?"

"I swear! It wasn’t me! I…" Leo gulped. "I was controlled by an old god who is in the depths of the sea. He was controlling my body, I have never seen you, I swear!"

"I know." Leo frowned. "I didn't bring you for that anyway." Sylvanas moved closer to him and crouched down to be at eye level. Normally this is done to convey confidence, but Sylvanas didn't convey any of it and Leo could feel it. "You are part of a plan, congratulations, I hope you are happy."

"Plan?"

"Yes, and if you don't collaborate, then I hope you like to collect pieces of your beloved Tidesage. Here is the first piece."

Sylvanas placed a human index finger in front of Leo as a threat and the little one went pale. He didn't understand why this was happening, he no longer had anything to do with all this. Sylvanas didn't want to tell him yet what she wanted him to collaborate on, it wasn't time. For now, she would leave him alone with no light in that cell and continue to give him little human chunks little by little until the plan was put into action. Sylvanas walked out the door to find Baine angry.

"So that was it..." Baine said accusingly.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's why you wanted me away these last days without asking me so many explanations, right? The attack in Stormsong Valley, you didn't want me to know."

"I'm not telling you things because you lost my trust a long time ago. If you want to recover it you will have to collaborate with a couple of things."

"How?"

"You have seen our new prisoners, right?" Baine nodded. "The child we have locked up here has to be tortured, no matter if physical or psychological, to tell us a few things."

"Tortured? But… what does he have to say?"

"I'll get that from him, you just scare him or order someone to do it, both options are good. But I want you to be the one to supervise it and report back to me."

"The boy is already scared. And then what will happen to him?"

"I don't see any reason why he should stay alive." Baine blinked.

"Warchief... he's just a boy, I don't think he's more than ten years old..."

"And?"

"We can't! He is not a threat!"

"He is the leader of the Stormsong house since his father died, he will be the leader of the so-called Tidesages. If not today, he will be tomorrow."

"But he's only a boy... I can't carry that..."

"In that case I hope you agree to take his place."

Baine frowned quite angrily as Sylvanas walked away. The little honor he could have was going to vanish if he did something like that. He would rather be forced into a battlefield than torture a defenseless child. His patience was reaching the limit. Baine went outside and looked for Mayla, he asked her to find out who was in charge of the attack since Sylvanas and Nathanos didn't usually go personally. Baine found Mayla and Ebyssian in the Valley of Honor talking a little apart and wasted no time asking.

"Did you find out?" Baine asked, Mayla nodded.

"Rokhan." Baine frowned slightly. "Sylvanas threatened him, apparently. If he didn't do it, what remains of the Darkspear tribe would probably disappear."

"I don't blame him..."

"What have you found out?"

"They have kidnapped quite high-ranking humans, including the leader of the Stormsong house of Kul Tiras." Mayla tilted her head to the side. "He's just a scared little boy and Sylvanas has ordered me to oversee his torture."

"That's horrible..." Mayla looked at him scandalized.

"I guess that explains the letter." Ebyssian said.

"What letter?" Baine asked.

"I received a letter from Wrathion, Anduin asks us for help with this. He wants to know if we can somehow return the child to Kul Tiras."

"We could get in big trouble if we do it…" Mayla said.

"Yes… but…" Baine mused. "You know what? I'm tired, I'll take the risk. I'm not going to fall for Sylvanas’ manipulation and I think I may have an alibi for doing it." Baine looked at Ebyssian. "Write back to Wrathion and ask them when and how they want to do it."

"I will do so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you smell the problems they're going to have? I do.  
Poor Leo anyway :(  
Next chapter? I don't know, it could be in a few weeks or in months. First I write in Spanish, someone correct it for me, I start to translate it, I spent days trying to make everything understandable in English... So, it's a long process. Or maybe I definitely lose motivation and not come back, who knows...  
In case we don't see each other again, good morning, good afternoon and good night.


	41. Crucial move on the game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, it's been a while but I have managed to finish this. I hope you like it, sorry for grammar mistakes.

If there was one thing Anduin hated about dreams, it was running. No matter how hard he tried or the need he had, he was always slow. To make it even worse, his pursuer was always right behind him, they didn't get to catch him, but it generated a lot of anxiety. Anduin was in something like a darkened city with excessively tall buildings, lots of holes to fall into and full of strange-shaped monsters taken from his worst nightmares. Anduin was being chased by them and didn't know where to go. Another problem he had in that dream is that his vision was very limited, he may not even be in a city. He was trying to accelerate and couldn't, the monsters were almost sniffing the back of his neck. Anduin tried to get into a stone hall, but in the end they caught him and pulled his shirt so hard that Anduin thought they were going to tear it. It wasn't pleasant to feel something like sticky hands tugging him, but when he was thrown to the ground, he woke up.

Anduin believed that he woke up because it was already dawn, but in fact he had fallen out of bed. The young king no longer wanted to sleep again, this type of nightmares where he was being chased made him too nervous and lately it was the only kind of dreams he had. Although when he wanted to take a shower he realized something disturbing. The shirt he had worn to sleep had lengthened, just like in his nightmare when he was grabbed from behind. How was it possible if that was a dream? Did someone enter while he was sleeping? Any answer that came to his mind scared him.

After a quick shower, Anduin ate a light breakfast. He was alone for now, it was very early and he appreciated it, he had a lot to think about. Almost five days had passed since the kidnapping, it became clear that the fleet couldn't arrive in time and their people were in Orgrimmar suffering some horrible fate. Anduin got very angry in the end. Although it was obvious that the fleet didn't arrive in time, Jaina continued to make plans with Turalyon and Alleria about the expulsion of the Sin'dorei in the Eastern Kingdoms. Jaina was somewhat pained when she heard that the Tidesages were in Orgrimmar, but like Turalyon and Alleria, she ended up blinding herself with the elves. It was something Anduin came to despise, never before had a war given him so much disgust and he wasn't sure if they had that attitude because they truly were like that or the Azerite was poisoning their minds.

Anduin was very lost now. Baine hadn't responded to his request, perhaps he couldn't help him in any way or he simply turned his back on him. Anduin was slowly stirring the coffee with a teaspoon when the door opened. Wrathion nodded as he approached.

"You woke up early today. I noticed your smell and I stopped by to say hello." said the dragon, smiling.

"I wasn't very sleepy, I have my head in a thousand matters." he didn't want to tell him that a nightmare woke him up.

"Jaina?"

"And the other two, they're gaining more support, especially from the dwarves. I wouldn't be surprised if they leave in a few days to carry out their plan." Wrathion sat next to him and looked at him, tilting his head a little.

"You look sad." Anduin sighed.

"I am, how could I not be?" Wrathion was silent for a few seconds.

"Would you like to take a walk? We can go to the house and say hi to Varok."

"Now?"

"Yes, it's still early, there's nothing to do." the dragon smiled slightly. "It's very fine outside, the breeze is nice."

Anduin nodded, perhaps the air would make him feel better. Boralus' streets were quiet, there weren't the typical annoying city noises and Anduin realized that it had been a while since the last time he heard the birds singing. Neither of them spoke much on the way, but there was no discomfort from it. If there was something Anduin appreciated very much with Wrathion, it was that the silences were pleasant, he didn't have the need to talk as he did with almost everyone. They crossed the forest and arrived at the house but they were surprised not to see Varok around, but they only needed to step inside the house to hear the snoring from the orc. Anduin and Wrathion decided to sit on the porch for a while so they could bask in the sun. Anduin felt good for a second when he closed his eyes, forgetting everything that had happened these last days of stress and his nightmares. Wrathion had lain down beside Anduin, placing his head close to his leg, and held a paper note close to the young king's face after a while. Anduin didn't realize it until he opened his eyes.

"What is this?" Anduin asked.

"Ebyssian's response." the young king seemed to put himself on guard.

"Why didn't you give it to me before?"

"Because I wanted to be in a safe place." Wrathion sat down. "It arrived in the middle of the night."

"And what do they say?"

"Yes, they have the Tidesages and we must organize for the return."

"So they help us?" Wrathion nodded. "Okay, okay... It's very risky and they still help us, it's perfect. How should we do it?"

"They suggest going somewhere in between, neither Kalimdor or Eastern Kingdoms, maybe an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean can work. I think one of those islands where they sent expedition ships would be a good idea."

"Yes... In fact, now that Taelia is in charge of the harbor, surely she has records on these islands that we can consult. It would only remain to find a boat."

"And specify the day. In the letter they clearly state that they need anticipation because the situation is a bit delicate."

"I figure... First I should talk to Taelia and find out about these islands and... I think I'll ask her for a boat too. I don't think Jaina will lend me one of hers considering we've only been arguing lately."

"Do you have a good idea of what you want to do? Because I'm afraid you don't."

"Why do you say that?"

"Think, Baine will return Leo and Pike to us. We will go with a boat borrowed by Taelia, so at some point they will also ask her for explanations about what we told her because here everyone has paranoia about everything. And then the worst comes, how do we explain that we have rescued Leo and Pike? Do you have any excuses in mind?"

"Not yet, but there is still time."

"How much? What if they tell us tomorrow that we should go?"

"I'll think of something! Or we don't go if you want!" Wrathion frowned at Anduin's sudden anger and the young king realized it late. Like his last outbursts of anger, he spoke the words before his brain processed them. "Sorry… I'm sorry, I've been getting angry really fast lately."

"I'm not going to stop talking to you for that, it's fine. But… are you okay?"

"I've been quite stressed these days." Anduin hesitated for a moment when his gaze met the dragon's. "I'm always in a bad mood and... stress doesn't let me sleep very well either."

"I used to be very angry all the time a year ago." Wrathion sighed. "But you have taken the first step very quickly: recognizing it. From then on you will improve"

"Why were you angry? Because of the things N'Zoth did?"

"Among other things." Wrathion looked down slightly. "But that's an old story, nothing lasts forever."

Anduin looked into the forest and they were silent for a while. Does time heal everything? He was told that once as a consolation when Varian died, would it apply to the problems he was suffering now? He wished it were like this, he hated feeling that way so contrary to what he used to be.

"Anduin, look." Anduin looked at Wrathion, he was holding a black cat and the entire long and slender body was exposed. "A very long cat." the young king didn't know whether to laugh, but a smile escaped him.

"Idiot." Wrathion placed the cat's head under his chin and stroked its belly until the cat began to purr. "Who is purring? You or the cat?"

"For the last time, dragons can't purr." Wrathion put the cat on Anduin's lap and got closer. Anduin scratched the cat's belly and watched as Wrathion stared.

"Do you want me to scratch your belly too?"

"You wouldn't like my violent reaction." Wrathion smiled at him. He said it to sound dangerous, but actually dragons really liked it. Anduin didn't believe him because he could see Wrathion's smile and he smiled too, one day he must try it.

"If you stop staring at each other’s eyes, you will see that I'm here." Varok had woken up and Anduin almost jumped.

"Sorry, I thought you were still asleep." Anduin apologized.

"I was, but someone raised his voice and..." Anduin looked down. "I had to get up anyway."

Varok went to the river near the house to wash his face. Anduin stroked the cat some more until Wrathion looked back at him.

"What do you want to do first?" Anduin thought for a few seconds.

"Let's talk to Taelia before anything else."

Wrathion got up and offered Anduin a hand to lift him up. They both said goodbye to Varok and went to Boralus again. Since it had been a while, the harbor was already awake, so Taelia was probably already in the office. They had to wait a few minutes for Taelia to stop giving instructions to some workers. Anduin saluted first by raising his hand.

"How are you doing with the promotion?" asked the young king, Taelia gave a long sigh.

"No wonder Cyrus wanted to retire..." Anduin laughed a little. "What brings you both here?"

"It's a very secret matter, we need your help. Can we talk very privately?" Taelia waved her hand for them to follow her into an empty room. Wrathion closed the door and they were left alone.

"What's going on?"

"It's a rescue plan for Leo and Pike." Taelia looked at him very interested. "We can do it but we need a little help. Do you have records of islands where they made expeditions to mine Azerite?"

"Yes, all that is marked so I can show it to you. But what do you intend to do?"

"Well…" Anduin looked at Wrathion because he didn't know where to start.

"What do you mean 'you speak now'?" asked the dragon with a frown.

"Now you read each other’s mind?" Taelia asked.

"It's not difficult to guess what he thinks when he looks at me like that." Wrathion passed a hand on the back of his neck. "If I have to give a short version, it would be that we have a contact in the Horde who can free them. They have asked us to go somewhere in between, one of those islands, to do it. We have to notify them in advance so if you can help us..."

"Does it have something to do with the orc I helped you free?"

"More or less."

"Well, for now..." Taelia went to one of the drawers to search. She took out a map and some very well written reports that she left on the table. "This is the map that shows the islands and these are all the reports about them, although some islands haven't been visited yet."

"It's great!" Anduin said as he looked over.

"Do you have a boat or do you also need one?" the young king stared at her. "Are you also going to ask me that? Isn't that too many favors?"

"I know the risk, and really, if I had other options I wouldn't ask you for something so risky. But I can't trust others. I ask you as your little brother."

"Don't tell me that..." Taelia covered Anduin's eyes because he was with his irresistible pleading gaze.

"Think about it, we aren't going to force anyone." said Wrathion. Taelia crossed her arms and was silent for a while.

"I already know the secret of the orc anyway, for one more I'm not going to die."

"It could lead to your death if someone finds out."

"No one will catch me. When will we do all this by the way?"

"First we should have a small meeting with those involved, then we will go."

"Take this." Taelia picked up the papers and put them in an envelope. "Don't let anybody see you with this, please."

"No problem." Anduin picked it up.

"We will all go to the house to talk." said Wrathion.

"House?" Taelia asked.

"Yes, it's..." Anduin was silent for a second. "Ah, Taelia, do you want to join a very select group?"

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Gathering everyone was easy, they just needed to make time until lunch. They couldn't get together sooner because of Taelia, Dereck and Tess’ jobs, but at least they didn't have to wait days. After lunch, Tess and Dereck went to pick up Taelia at the harbor's office while Anduin and Wrathion searched for Calia around the Proudmoore keep. Once the six of them were together, they took the path that crossed the forest until they arrived at the house. Wrathion recorded Taelia's magic code to let her pass and she was quite surprised to see the place and the illusion the dragon used. They all went inside to talk since the sky was a bit cloudy and they thought it would rain. They made some coffee out of whatever was left and sat down comfortably using cushions.

"Good." Anduin began, leaving the papers on the table and spreading them a bit. "Where do we start? Any ideas?"

"What kind of island do you prefer?" Taelia asked. "We have everything, with forest, with snow, with volcanoes..."

"It should be an accessible place." Dereck pointed out. "Easy to walk around and not too big. An island that is just a beach seems like a good idea to me."

"There are some like that." Taelia took some papers. "Read the descriptions and choose." everyone looked over the reports from the islands for a few minutes until Calia broke the silence.

"This island looks fine to me." Calia read over. "There are two islands that are quite big and it would take us a long time to find each other, another has a beach that is too small. But this one in particular is just sand, maybe a little big, but I think we would find each other easily." Tess took the report and read it.

"The rotten mire, nice name, it has few animals and plants... When the tide rises, the water covers part of the sand, so it's important to wear a swimsuit." Tess looked at Taelia. "Who wrote this?"

"I don't know."

"Where is the island located?" Taelia opened the map of the ocean and searched.

"Here, it's the furthest one but that means it can be the safest. I hope they have a map."

"I'm sure they have one." Anduin said.

"We have to do it at night," said Wrathion. "we have to use the shelter of the night to our advantage, with the light of day it's easier for someone to see us."

"I quite agree on that." Dereck said, nodding. "Darkness is the best ally in these situations."

"Okay, no problem." Anduin looked at Wrathion. "Can you write to them?" the dragon had already started to write the letter specifying the place they chose.

"Is that the language of dragons?" Taelia asked, amazed by the letters.

"Since we are here, there's something we want to announce." Tess said suddenly raising her voice a little, everyone paid attention. "We have already discussed it with my parents... And we believe that all of you should be next." Tess looked at Dereck for a moment before speaking. "We're getting married." there was a silence, one in which everyone tried to process what they had just heard.

"What?" asked Wrathion.

"Congratulations! Let the rum run!" Taelia said, excitedly.

"Seriously?" Anduin asked. "How's that?"

"As far as we know, tomorrow we could wake up dead." Dereck said. "That's why we want to unite, before it's too late."

"We're in war." Tess explained. "This could be a bit of happiness, at least for us."

"Congratulations!" Calia said. "When will it be?"

"Soon, or so I hope. It will be a short ceremony, only very close friends and family."

"Well, I hope you have a good time." Wrathion said, but Tess frowned.

"You're coming to this. Guardians are all invited."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. We’re friends, aren’t we?" again, Wrathion still had trouble understanding that he had friends.

"I really need a distraction." Anduin said. "Count on me, I'm going no matter what!"

Dereck raised his thumb. A wedding! Anduin couldn't remember if he had been to one, maybe he had, but right now he couldn’t recall it. And they were very close friends who were going to marry, he was very happy for them. It was unexpected and there were still a few days to go, but the idea made him very happy among all the bad news. Part of the afternoon was spent explaining to Taelia what they did all this time and shared the secrets, Taelia would take them to the grave when she made a typical pirate oath. It was a pleasant afternoon, Anduin was able to distract himself. Everything went well until he returned to Boralus and Mathias claimed him. It was all very brief, with Mathias it was always like that, but what he used to tell him wasn't what he most wanted to hear. The day turned black as soon as he told Anduin that the majority supported Turalyon and Alleria because they gave up on the Tidesages and both of them suddenly left after taking a large amount of Azerite for the assault.

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The plan could be genius or the biggest failure they would witness. After fixing the day and time and building an alibi, the tauren carried out the plan. All the work had to be done by Mayla, she was the only one of the three who went unnoticed. It was annoying that only she would have to carry the full weight of the mission, but Ebyssian being a dragon always dragged a lot of attention and Baine had too many eyes on him. On the other hand, if any of the prisoners in Baine's charge disappear, he would be the first suspect. Night was approaching, Ebyssian had the alibi that he went hunting on his own because no feast in Orgrimmar could satisfy him and Baine managed to have a little meeting with Sylvanas where he would give her a summary of what he had done, so he had left someone else guarding the prisoners. Mayla had to do something simple: carry a box of supplies. It was common to bring new weapons and armor to the lower levels of Orgrimmar where new recruits were prepared. She just had to go with that box to the lower level and deliver the new material, as if it were a normal task, and she would fill that box with other material that was in poor condition and needed to be repaired. That would be when she would take Leo out of his cell, ask him to go inside the box, and take him outside.

Although the plan was simple, Mayla walked nervously. She had never done an act of treason before and her legs were shaking a little. As she approached the entrance to the lower levels, she encountered the typical guards. The leader was a troll who greeted her.

"Greetings, Mayla." said friendly.

"Hi, Maruk. How are you?"

"Wishing to finish the shift. What have you got there?"

"New material." Mayla showed the inside so it wouldn't be suspicious. "I have a duty to deliver it."

"I see that they have also put you to do dirty work, Rokhan is in the same position."

Mayla smiled weakly, unless Sylvanas recognized you as a superior, most of them did peon jobs. The troll let her pass without problems, he trusted her. Mayla accelerated, first she had to replace the material and then get Leo out. The training rooms were full of recruits of all races fighting, sometimes to death, but according to them that was good because they 'got rid' of the 'weaker'. Mayla went to the person in charge of distributing the weapons and armor, she already had a big work with all the pieces she had, but she was grateful that Mayla appeared with a new box since she had to get rid of half-broken armor. Once the exchange was made, the moment of truth arrived. Mayla made her way to the cells making sure no one saw her. At the entrance where Leo was, there was one of the torturers that Baine chose. They were going to incriminate an innocent, the three of them knew that, but they had to do it, that poor orc would be indicted for having the bad luck that it was his turn to be the torturer that day. Mayla quietly set the box on the ground and grabbed a blowgun she got from Zandalar. Once she inserted a dart, she brought the blowgun to her mouth and blew hard. The dart was very powerful, a second after hitting the orc, he fell asleep on the ground. Mayla hurried to pick up the box and approach the orc and saw that the key was hanging on his belt. When she opened the cell’s door, she was surprised to see that it was totally dark and a bad smell almost made her recoil. Using one of the torches outside, Mayla searched for the little human. Thanks to the light, she realized that the bad smell was produced by a lot of human pieces. Hands, fingers, feet, even a whole arm were scattered and she found Leo in a corner.

"You are Leo, right?" the little boy looked at her and never before had Mayla seen so much terror in someone's eyes. Leo raised his hands a little, as if he wanted to stop her, but Mayla approached anyway and crouched down at his eye height. Unlike Sylvanas, she wasn't threatening. "What have they done to you?" she asked sadly, but deep down she didn't want to know it. Mayla opened the box next to him. "Listen to me, I have come to save you, I am going to return you to your people." Leo kept looking at her suspiciously. "I'm going to take you to Anduin, Wrathion, Tess... your home. But you have to get in the box, please."

Leo seemed to react to the names and since he had no other choice, he decided to trust her. Mayla made space in the box for Leo to get in, she was lucky that the box was quite large. She left everything in its place and put the orc sitting in front of the door, she had to leave quickly since the effect would disappear soon. She sped up her pace much more now that it was all going to end, she was already approaching the entrance and would soon be out.

"Why so fast?" Mayla stopped short. She didn't calculate the time well, the guards already rotated and now she had the worst leader.

"Good evening, Cederick." a loyal Forsaken to Sylvanas stood in her way. "I'm in a hurry because I want to finish my duty soon and go to dinner. It has been a long day and I want to rest."

"And the two who always accompany you?"

"Ebonhorn went hunting and Baine has a meeting with the Warchief. Can I go? Reba is waiting for me with this material that must be fixed or discarded, we all have things to do."

"May I see it?" Cederick tried to make a smile, but his mouth was half sewn and his jaw was about to drop. Mayla imagined that he would ask that, she had no choice but to put the box on the ground and open it. The Forsaken inspected the inside and removed the broken armor a bit. "It would be impolite not to accompany you to Reba, do you mind?"

Mayla had to avoid snorting or pouting, she had no choice but to accept, if she refused it could raise some suspicion in the future and she couldn't afford it. The Forsaken accompanied her to one of the smithing posts in the Valley of Honor where they found the tauren who asked Mayla for help. The tauren smiled at Mayla, but frowned at the undead.

"I didn't know you needed help." said the tauren.

"I don't, Cederick just kept me company. Here you have, armor and weapons in bad condition." the Forsaken didn't take his eyes off, without a doubt he wanted to see if there was something strange, but all he saw were pieces and pieces of metal. Mayla took out the last helmet and the box was visibly empty. "Where should I leave the box?"

"Ah, you have to leave it around the Orgrimmar Rear Gate, in Azshara. I know it's a bit of a long way, but we leave all the trash there until the goblin cleaning patrol takes them away."

Mayla smiled, there was no problem. She picked up the empty box and said goodbye to both of them. It was information she already knew, Baine told her, and it was part of the plan. Mayla walked through the lonely gorge in silence, praying to end all of this now. As she approached the Azshara area, she saw a dozen boxes of all sizes stacked among other garbage. Mayla then ran a little into the Azshara area until she reached the first trees. There she finally found Baine and Ebyssian.

"Mayla!" Baine exclaimed. "Finally, you are late. And I thought I would be the one who was late because Sylvanas didn’t let me go easily."

"I had a problem, but I have a great alibi, no one should suspect me." Mayla put the box on the grass and opened it. "I have to say that your idea of putting a false bottom has been a genius." as soon as a wooden plank was removed from the bottom, a tiny space was exposed in which Leo was in a fetal position.

"I hope he didn't suffocate…" Ebyssian said. But when the little boy looked at them in terror it was clear that he was alive.

"It's okay." Baine said. "We will not harm you, we will return you to your home."

With big care, Baine took Leo off the box trying to touch him the least to not scare him. Leo was surprised to see how Ebyssian changed into his dragon form and slightly reminded him of Wrathion. Since Ebyssian was large, he had no problem carrying three people. Baine sat behind Mayla and she held Leo on her lap so he wouldn't fall. The darkness of the night would protect them and thus they began the long way.

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The night and the tides were very calm and favorable. They sailed on the water fast, approaching their destination without problem as night began to fall. There wasn't much free space on deck for the six of them, that was the only objection as some felt a bit dizzy. They tried to think how they were going to explain the rescue, but very few things sounded entirely convincing, they kept stagnating over and over again at the same point. Saying that they infiltrated Orgrimmar taking advantage of the experience of SI:7 agents wasn't enough since they were talking about the capital, and using the card that they had help from a traitor in the Horde could go terribly wrong. But time was upon them and they kept finding holes in the plan, they were beginning to despair.

"We should go back to Boralus in the morning." Calia said. "It would be risky if they saw us with Leo so soon if we supposedly infiltrated. Such a mission would actually take an entire night."

"We can all agree on that." Tess said, nodding. "We can ask Baine for certain details of the city about how their shift changes work or which areas are less guarded. Historically, there have always been infiltrations in big cities so..."

"Anyway, we should say that not all of us infiltrate." Anduin said. "Tess, Dereck and perhaps Wrathion are the only ones who really have experience in infiltration. The rest of us should give the excuse that we were trying to clear the way to return."

"That’s a good idea. But I still see it complicated..."

"People." Taelia warned. "Land ho."

They tried without much success due to darkness to see the island in front of them, after hours they would finally step on land. Anduin didn't even wait for the ladder to be lowered, he jumped from the deck to the sand, for the last hour he had been dizzy. Taelia said she would be guarding the boat, although technically the island was already cleaned she wanted to make sure nothing would happen. Calia decided to stay as well and not leave her alone, so the others decided to search for the taurens. Using flashlights or Anduin's Light they walked on the sand for a few minutes, it wasn't a large island and Wrathion soon announced that he was detecting the magic and smell of the tauren. When they were almost approaching the other end of the island they met. Mayla carried a torch in her hand that allowed them to see and Dereck took the opportunity to expand the range of light from his flashlight. It was then when something ran out of the tauren, they finally saw Leo. The little boy ran quickly towards Wrathion, raising his arms for him to hold him. The dragon reached down to catch him and Leo began to cry on his shoulder.

"They killed Pike." said the little boy between sobs. "Everyone..." Wrathion patted him gently on the back.

"Easy... It's over." Wrathion stood up without letting go and let Leo cry on his shoulder.

"Baine." Anduin approached the tauren. "Thank you very much for risking your life for us, I'm in debt."

"He's just a kid." Baine replied, but looked at the ground. "Although Sylvanas may have traumatized him with something, and forced me to do other things. If we hadn't gotten him out of there, the boy would have ended up dead, no doubt. I had no choice."

"I understand."

"It was Rokhan." Anduin recognized the name. "Apparently he was forced to do the attack and the kidnapping, he isn't proud of what he did but... He hasn't told me, but if he could he would probably apologize."

"It seems that lately we're all the same. I would apologize to Lor’Themar for what Turalyon and Alleria are doing to his people, they don't represent us in any way."

"Maybe one day you can tell him." Baine looked at Mayla and Ebyssian. "We have to go, our alibi won't last long."

"Okay, again thank you all very much, one day I'll make it up." the three tauren bowed and took a step away when Anduin decided something very important. "Baine." he turned around. "I have to tell you something, a warning."

"What is it about?"

"I shouldn't do it but I'll risk it." Anduin took a breath. "Turalyon and Alleria left with a lot of Azerite, they want to make one last assault on the Ghostlands, have the blood elves locked in Silvermoon and then besiege the city." Baine blinked and thought.

"When?"

"It was recently, until they arrive or not it will take a week at least. Tell Lor'Themar, prepare to defend or make an exodus. Turalyon and Alleria convinced many for this assault so they will hit hard, I couldn't stop it. Tell that some spies saw them go or something, but please, no more deaths."

"Okay..." Baine nodded. "I'll explain it to him to prepare something. Thanks, Anduin… Maybe we will avoid some deaths."

"Wait." Tess said. "We need a few little details about Orgrimmar so we can make our own alibi, if you don't mind."

They talked for a while about the areas where shift changes occurred and then the tauren retreated to return as soon as possible. Anduin didn't know how he was going to return such a favor since they were risking their lives with this, although what he had just done by telling them that they would attack the Sin'dorei soon made him look like a traitor in the eyes of any Alliance.

They boarded again without problems and decided to make the return journey. They asked Taelia not to get too close to Kul Tiras at least until the sun rises and there was no way to kill time. They didn't talk to Leo about what they did to him, the trauma was still fresh and they didn't want to bother him. The little boy was glued to Wrathion for a long time until he fell asleep after a short time. Calia ended up joining him to sleep, the others were on the brink of sleep except Wrathion, Taelia was barely manipulating the rudder as she had dropped into it.

"How long must we wait til the sun rises?" Dereck asked, sleepily.

"A couple of hours minimum." Wrathion replied, Dereck sighed.

"Anduin." Tess called. "Since when do you know that Turalyon and Alleria left?"

"Before we left." the young king crossed his arms. "Mathias told me. They are making things very complicated."

"Will they start killing puppies too?" Dereck asked wryly.

"Look, I'm sick of them." Anduin got up and leaned on the railing. "I wish they would go away for good. They have caused a bigger division than it looks like, everything is wrong."

"Why didn't you say so?" Tess asked. "It will coincide that we 'infiltrated' Orgrimmar and that Lor’Themar will await the arrival of Turalyon and Alleria to his territory, the easiest thing is that they'll think we have traded him for information. Do you realize that they can treat us as traitors?"

"What do you want me to do?" Anduin asked, angrily. "You heard Baine, they killed everyone except Leo and they also planned to kill him, and all because of arrogance, many preferred to follow Turalyon and Alleria's plan since they decided that the Tidesages were a lost case."

Anduin looked at the sea, he didn't want to say what deep down he thought of all of them. Tess wanted to say something, but Wrathion made a gesture with his hand to let him be, he understood that it wasn't a good idea to talk to Anduin if he was in a bad mood.

The dead hours were horrible, but they managed to fulfill their plan until dawn appeared and illuminated Kul Tiras in the background. Taelia, half asleep, made her way to the island at last. After an hour, with the sun higher, they reached the harbor. Each one went their own way in search of a bed, only Anduin and Tess brought Leo to Jaina. Obviously, Jaina asked many questions, but all three were defeated by sleep and Anduin almost fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. Since they weren't too well and could only say that it was a mission that lasted all night, Jaina told them to go to sleep, but when they woke up they should explain. They accepted without hesitation and left Leo in Jaina's charge because he needed some medical attention. Anduin almost ran into his room and only had time to remove his boots and jacket before throwing himself onto the bed.

Dreams didn't want to be nice to him. Anduin was again involved in a chase in a place too dark. He couldn't see what was behind him, but he didn't dare turn around. Once again, the shadows reached out to him. A huge hand grabbed his left arm and pulled him back. Anduin resisted, but the grip was strong and it was doing quite a bit of damage until it knocked him to the ground.

The young king believed that he woke up when he fell to the ground, he opened his eyes very slowly and saw that he was in his bed. The curtain was drawn so very little light came in, but something started to go very wrong. He wasn't sure if he had really woken up, as much as he opened his eyes, he couldn't move. Anduin looked around and tried to move his arms, but it felt like gravity was five times stronger than normal. But worse than all this, was seeing that there was someone else there. He couldn't quite recognize them, but there was a person on the other side of the room, a totally black figure that took a few steps towards him. Anduin tried in vain to move again, but his body seemed to be still sleeping.

That mysterious person stood still right on the edge of the bed as they watched him closely. They did nothing to him, but Anduin felt an unease that he had never felt before and could only close his eyes and pray that they would go away. When he felt that they were grabbing him by the arm again, he didn't dare to look, he didn't want to, until he finally woke up, with his heart beating fast and breathing hard. He wasn't in his bed, now he was on the floor in front of the door as if he had been dragged. Anduin woke up in pain and looked through the balcony, judging by the position of the sun, it was already past noon. Anduin rubbed his eyes, did someone really enter his room or was it all part of a very realistic dream? Both options were terrifying and fear would haunt him today.

A shower might relax him a bit, he was still wearing his dirty clothes from yesterday and had been sweating a lot during the night. When he took off his shirt, he noticed a small detail: his arm was marked. Anduin quickly looked himself in the mirror, as it happened in his dream, he had a mark of a hand on his left arm, as if someone had grabbed him very hard. It was quite red and stood out quite a bit on his white skin. So someone did come into his room while he was sleeping? That question answered itself as soon as he noticed that his own hand fit the mark perfectly, which was worse, did he do it himself? What if tomorrow instead of the arm he tries to choke himself? Anduin heard a small laugh in the background, it was the usual voice laughing at his confusion as always.

"_Leave me alone_." said Anduin aloud.

Anduin was tired of the voice laughing at him when he was confused, it was probably the voice itself that forced these nightmares on him. He knew that talking to it and giving it attention would make the situation worse, although worse was that he didn't realize that he said those words in a language very different from his own, a much darker one.

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When she entered and saw the empty cell, she realized that the big bet had started, all the pieces were on the board and the game began. Sylvanas watched as a Forsaken removed the human parts distributed throughout the cell, they would use them to reinforce other undead at least, but a small human was missing there, the small Tidesage had disappeared and no one knew anything. The orc who was in charge was arrested at the time he reported the disappearance as the main suspect, many believed that he was the one who did it since no one saw anything strange that night, only the same workers and new cadets as always. Once Sylvanas was alone, Nathanos approached her.

"What should we do, my queen?" he asked. Sylvanas didn't bother to meet his eyes.

"Nothing, this had to happen. The orc who was here has to be punished so no one suspects anything."

"But... you know who did it, right? The orc wasn't the one, it was..."

"I know."

"So?"

"Don't do anything against them yet, I need them to give me the signal I am waiting for to take action against them." Sylvanas, with one hand, grabbed Nathanos' chin and made him look at her. "Relax, everything is going according to the plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, they're screwed.  
The first time I had sleep paralysis it was very strange and then when I woke up I saw that I had grabbed my own arm, what a bad experience... Although of course Anduin is something else xD "join the void"  
Next chapter will be a happy/chill one for you to relax a bit, after that forget about reading happy things for a long time. Since it won't be a complicated chapter to write, maybe I can write it quickly, but don't count it as a promise. Kudos or comments is literally the only way I have to see if you like it or not, if you leave any I appreciate it a lot, I can only feed on that.  
Until next time, good morning, good afternoon and good night.


	42. The calm before the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Yes, it took a while, it happens when you have a few long days where you want to jump off a bridge and then, to make it better, you get sick. But well, in between I could finish the chapter. It's probably one of the worst I have written, but I wanted to start and end the peace moments in the same chapter, not to mention that there are certain details here that are very important, I hope you take them into account. Ah, I'm not good at describing clothes or hairstyles, I lack of that kind of vocabulary but I tried to make it understandable, you'll see, I hope it doesn't bother too much. Sorryfor all grammar mistakes.  
Enjoy if you can!

They weren't completely free of doubt and suspicions rose higher than ever. When Anduin left his room the next day, Tess took him inside again to tell him what they explained. She and Dereck apparently pretended they were going to sleep but spent several hours planning what to say. The first person they had to explain to was Jaina. With a map of Orgrimmar, they came up with a plan where the two of them with Wrathion infiltrated the city using SI:7 gadgets and magic while the rest stayed behind to clear the way through the Azshara area. Jaina asked quite a few questions about what they used or if they saw someone important and they had to improvise a bit without mentioning very recognizable names. Once they spoke with her, the two spies looked for everyone else who participated in the rescue and explained the version they gave so that no one would say something different, the last to know was Anduin.

"My role was only to cover the escape then?" Anduin asked to confirm, Tess nodded.

"Yep, the only ones who have difficult roles are me, Dereck and Wrathion because we know how to lie better, no offense."

"Don't worry, that's fine with me, the less I have to explain the better. Thanks for covering our backs."

"We haven't covered too much either, Jaina isn't entirely satisfied, as we commented throughout the trip."

"Did you talk to Leo?"

"Yes, it was the first one I visited before I even spoke to Jaina."

"Great, if we all stick to the script you gave we'll be fine, I owe you one."

"How about you return me the favor now?"

"What do you want?"

"It's about the wedding, I need a big place to do the ceremony and such... Can you let me do it inside of the Stormwind castle?"

"What? Why?" Tess grabbed Anduin by the shoulders and looked at him intensely.

"Have you not heard of 'you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours'?"

"Okay, okay... I never imagined that you would blackmail me."

"Is helping me blackmail? You hurt me, Anduin." Tess put her hand to the heart dramatically.

"Did you set a date yet?"

"Yes, this weekend." Anduin blinked.

"Already? I thought you would need more time."

"I already told you that we wouldn't do something big and most don't know it, we wanted something intimate and small so there isn't much to organize."

In that she was right, they didn't want to put on a show. If Anduin was the one who was getting married, he was sure it would take months of festivities where he would be the center of attention, something he didn't look forward to. He had no problem giving a part of the castle to them to do the ceremony, in fact he planned to give more space than they even needed. The throne room and the inner courtyard were ideal, not so many people would attend.

Just as Tess warned, Jaina wanted to have a little conversation with Anduin about what happened after he finished breakfast. Anduin went to the Lord's Admiral office atop the Proudmoore Keep as he mentally went over and over again what Tess had told him. Jaina's office still smelled of saltpeter like last time thanks to the breeze, several papers were blown off as a consequence and Jaina was picking them up.

"Shall I help you?" Anduin asked once he closed the door.

"No need, I have them all." Jaina approached the table. "Come, sit down."

Anduin realized there was a second chair, something that had never been there before. They both sat down and were silent for a few seconds, Anduin was nervous.

"You are the only one I'm missing, I have already spoken with everyone who participated in that rescue."

"In that case you already know the whole story, right?"

"Not entirely, there are certain details that escape me, only you can clarify them." Anduin frowned slightly, concerned. Did it mean that she would ask him something that is out of the story that everyone agreed on? That wasn't a good sign.

"And what do I have to clarify, supposedly?"

"You were one of those who stayed behind securing the way back through Azshara, weren't you?" Anduin nodded. "And you don't know exactly what the other three did in Orgrimmar."

"They have names, and no, I don't know what they did in Orgrimmar, but I suppose they have already told you about the methods they used with SI:7 tools and magic."

"Did you, Calia and Taelia have to get rid of someone? Where did you go?"

"To the southeast. There were some guards along the way but we got rid of them."

"Near Lake Mennar?" Anduin nodded. "Did you pass near the secret laboratory and the Southern Rocketway Terminus and no one saw you?"

"No, we made sure of it, we didn't go anywhere that was inhabited, we only crossed the forest until we reached the cliffs. There is a path that leads to a beach with a large, half-eaten corpse of a marine creature, that's where we left the boat. There isn't much else."

"The beach called 'The Ruined Reaches'?" Anduin nodded and Jaina crossed her fingers. "Why have you told me all of this as if it were a monologue?"

"What?" Anduin blinked.

"I can tell there is something you aren't telling me." the young king had to avoid not making any gesture that would betray him. He had forgotten a very important little detail: he didn't know how to lie and Jaina knew him very well, she was going to find out, that's why she left Anduin the last.

"Jaina… there is nothing more than that, I'm serious."

"Apart from learning a monologue, you also forget things. Don't you remember what you said at the meeting?"

"What I said?" Jaina was about to laugh.

"It seems that making plans with you is not a good idea. Don't you remember that at the meeting where Turalyon and Alleria attended you said that a person was going to help you a lot?" no, he definitely didn't remember that detail, but now that she mentioned it, she was right. As Anduin didn't say anything, Jaina sighed. "I see you didn't remember that, nor did you discuss it with your friends to include it in the monologue."

"We didn't ask anyone for help."

"Don't try to lie to me, it shows in your eyes." Anduin swallowed hard. "I assume it's someone from the Horde because otherwise everything you say would be impossible. Who was it?"

Anduin felt trapped, he didn't count on this and didn't know what to say, denying it wasn't going to save him. Jaina watched patiently, waiting for the slightest reaction from Anduin that might prove her right. If he had remembered that he said such a thing at the meeting...

_She will realize you are lying if you do, tell the truth. The others don't need to know._

Oh no, not the voice, anything but the voice speaking to him at that moment.

"_Tell her_." the voice insisted.

"_Shut up_." Anduin replied.

"What?" Jaina asked. The young king didn't even realize that he said it aloud. "What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Anduin, I adore you, but I don't have all day." Jaina got up and took a few steps towards Anduin. "And my patience is running out."

"There is a traitor in the Horde who helped us." Anduin turned pale, he said it without processing it in his brain before, he didn't even want to say it.

"A traitor? Who? Someone important? An old friend…?"

"I can't…"

"Anduin..."

"For once trust me. Please…" Jaina sighed.

"Look..." Jaina rubbed her eyes with one hand. "Let's do something, we'll pretend you haven't told me anything. We forget it."

"Why?"

"Anduin... Do you really need me to tell you what would happen if someone knew what you really did?"

It wasn't necessary, he knew perfectly well. He was surprised that Jaina wanted to forget it anyway, he thought she was going to be very angry considering that her hatred towards the Horde hadn't disappeared. But once again he had the feeling that Jaina was hiding something important, her words tried to convey a calm that didn't reach her eyes. They didn't talk more about the subject, Anduin left the office without having to clarify something and felt bad. Why had he said that? He had screwed up the plan completely, he screwed up and the others were going to be mad at him for it.

"_You can lie to them_." said the voice. "_Don't tell your friends that you told that detail. Don't tell anyone anything if you don't want more trouble_."

"_Why do you keep talking to me?_" Anduin frowned. "_You forced me to tell her, I didn't want to!_"

_"That woman was going to force you anyway."_

_"But you have made me say so..."_ Anduin felt some fear. _"Do you really have such power?"_

The voice no longer answered him. This was becoming very dangerous, the voice had absolute control over him and was able to force him to say things that he shouldn't. Could voices be like this? That was the true power of the Void?

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For some, the wedding day came very quickly as it was organized faster than expected. For others like Anduin, it came slowly. A few days of sinister nightmares and hearing the voice everywhere dictating what to say or not was horrible. Wrathion noticed Anduin's behavior and asked him multiple times if something was wrong, but Anduin always dodged questions or just said he was fine when his face said otherwise. The dragon insisted until Anduin became very defensive and let him be, Wrathion didn't want to pressure him because he was very soft with him. But luckily for everyone, the wedding distraction arrived and the worries were put aside, at least for the few guests. As Tess requested, they would use Stormwind's Castle to get married so the whole city got into a festive mood even though it would be a private wedding. As it was going to take place in the afternoon, Anduin spent much of the morning enduring people who only communicated complaints to him. Lately he had neglected the demands of his people and the nobles, but he couldn't calm any of them since they only wanted the usual: money and more money. Because of so many talks, Anduin had to eat a little later than usual and there were only a few hours before everything started. As always, Wrathion accompanied him to eat even though he ate almost nothing. They were alone until Calia walked through the door when they finished.

"Are you still like this?" she asked.

"We already finished." Anduin drank water. "How did it go?"

"Good, I got a decent dress. Thanks for the recommendation. Do you have something nice to wear?"

"Yes, I have a suit for these occasions." Calia looked at Wrathion.

"And you?"

"I'll go like this." said the dragon, Calia frowned.

"What? But it's your usual torn and dirty clothes." Wrathion shrugged, making it clear that he had nothing else. "No way." Calia took Wrathion by the arm to lead him away. "I'm sure I will find something presentable for you."

"I can give you something." Anduin said with an almost mischievous smile. "I'm sure I can help you."

"What?" Wrathion frowned. "I'm not dressing as a lunatic priest of Light."

"I have none of that, they are normal suits."

"Anduin, if you come, you have to dress too." Calia said.

"Of course, I'm not going to miss this."

Anduin just wanted to laugh a little at Wrathion's expense, he could tell that for the dragon this would be a torture. Also Calia said something very true, this was better to do between friends instead of doing it each one on their own, or with the help of an expert.

The three of them went into Anduin's room. The young king showed what he was going to wear, white cloth pants and a blue coat with gold laces on each shoulder representing the colors of the Alliance. It was a bit difficult for Wrathion to find something his size, but in the end they gave him a black coat that would be adorned with yellow bows and white pants while Wrathion looked at them as if he wanted to die. While Anduin searched for his clothes, Calia went into the bathroom to change into a yellow dress that suited her hair color very well. When Calia came out and sat down in front of a mirror to make her hairstyle, Anduin went into the bathroom to change. Wrathion still had his dying face.

"It's only a few hours, relax." Calia said.

"It's not my thing…"

"Do it for Tess and Dereck. They would be very sad if you didn't attend."

"I could assist with what I was wearing." Calia snorted. "I know that humans have protocols with weddings of going very handsome and such, but it doesn't seem like something we should follow closely."

"They are traditions, Wrathion." Anduin came out of the bathroom.

"It fits me a little tight, but I'm ready." Anduin said. Wrathion stared for a few seconds, Anduin was very elegant and the colors matched very well with him, he looked so handsome like this.

"I think you look great, Anduin." Calia said. "If you wish, I could style your hair nicely. And you," Calia looked at Wrathion. "don't complain and get dressed."

Wrathion sighed, grabbed the clothes, and went into the bathroom. Calia didn't make an overly complicated hairstyle on Anduin, she only let part of his hair down at the back and tied his side hair in a semi high bun, some bangs fell in front of his face although she tried to put them all at one side. Wrathion came out after a few minutes with a face that screamed he didn't like those clothes.

"I wish I could beat myself up…" said the dragon.

"Don't be dramatic…" Calia said, sighing. "You look great. I'm going to try to fix that messy hair you have, I'm done with Anduin." the young king got up trying to put all his bangs aside. Wrathion was almost gawking to see him like this. Anduin was too attractive this way and Wrathion wondered how the young king didn't have a legion of admirers of all races behind him.

"Are you sure it looks good on me?" Anduin asked before looking at Wrathion. "How do I look?"

"You look horrible." Wrathion returned to his same indifferent face as always. Anduin in protest simply threw a comb at his head.

"Come here." Calia took Wrathion by the arm again, made him sit on the chair that Anduin used previously and began to brush his hair backwards, it was the only hairstyle she could do with the short hair he had. “I'm impressed that at first glance it seems that your hair is curly and dry, but in reality it's quite smooth and soft."

Wrathion just shrugged, he had stopped caring about his looks long ago.

After several hours getting ready, the three of them joined the group of people gathered in the throne room. Most were unknown to them, only Taelia joined them as both Genn and Mia were busy.

It wasn't long before they occupied the few chairs in the room and waited while Anduin and Taelia teased Wrathion because he was annoyed with what he was wearing.

The ceremony started once all the guests were seated. Dereck was the first to arrive dressed in a black tuxedo, his hair now shorter and neat. He was visibly nervous and took small steps near the throne waiting for the bride. Genn appeared next to Tess, accompanying her to the altar while his face screamed that he was the proudest father in the world. Priestess Laurena began the ceremony with a few words. Fortunately for many, Tess and Dereck had the same idea when it came to a wedding, they didn't want to spend hours with a ceremony like many people did. After a short improvised speech, they made their wedding vows and exchanged rings. With the Light as the witness, they were united in marriage. Since all the guests were very close acquaintances, the applause echoed throughout the castle. Tess threw the bouquet of flowers and it was picked up by a dwarf who wanted to tempt a woman without much success.

That's when the most festive part came, although some like Mathias had to leave early for work. For many people it was the best part of a wedding, for others like Anduin it was very tedious.

"What's wrong?" Wrathion asked Anduin once they had a glass of champagne.

"Do you know those kind of people who at a party stay in a corner because they don't know where to go?" the dragon nodded. "Well, I'm part of that group of people." Wrathion said nothing for a few seconds.

"You want me to kidnap you?"

"Please."

Wrathion guided Anduin into the inner courtyard of the castle to get some fresh air. Tess and Dereck were busy now talking to coworkers and Anduin preferred to give them space on their special day. Not everything was bad, Calia and Taelia joined them to talk or continue laughing at what they were wearing, especially at Wrathion. Tess came over to them after a while sipping her champagne.

"Are you hiding?" she asked, smiling.

"In a fight between a murloc and a gnoll, who would win?" Anduin asked her. "Me and Taelia think a gnoll would, but Wrathion and Calia say murloc."

"Are you so bored? Or have you had ten glasses of champagne?"

"Actually we aren't really that bored." Taelia said, showing her glass full of alcohol. "I think we should do these parties more often." Tess smiled and turned around to introduce three dwarfs.

"Anduin." Tess called. "These three coworkers wanted to meet you formally since they have never had the opportunity." Anduin approached them to shake hands.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Anduin said, politely.

"The pleasure is ours." answered the one who seemed older. "My brothers are a little more shy but they are happy to exchange a few words."

"Do not feel shy, it is an honor to meet Tess' coworkers." one of them took a somewhat excited step.

"King Wrynn, would you have a beer with us?" Anduin hesitated.

"Ah, Beer… Well, I… I don't drink."

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Some claimed that what at first seemed like a normal wedding reception, turned into a pirate party in less than half an hour with the most unexpected drunks.

"Five!"

The beer mugs were slammed down on the table, Anduin and the dwarves' younger brother were in full competition, and to everyone's amazement, the young king held it better than a dwarf while everyone laughed and cheered.

"Next!" Anduin said, smiling as they filled his mug again. "You're about to lose, Kardan, you have nothing to do."

"What? An angelic-looking human doesn't beat me! Next!" they took the sixth mug of beer, then came the seventh... And the poor dwarf ended up slumped on the table.

"I won!" Anduin exclaimed. "I beat a dwarf!" the young king jumped up from his chair and for a second leaned to the side ready to fall. But since Wrathion sat next to him, with one hand he stopped him and sat him down again.

"That's my little brother!" Taelia exclaimed across the table as she moved her mug from side to side. Anduin looked at Wrathion.

"Have you seen? I have beaten a dwarf."

"'I don't drink.'" Wrathion repeated Anduin's words.

"He challenged me, his fault." the dragon knew, Anduin just got carried away.

"Anduin." Tess approached him quite happy too. "Come on, come on, we have to dance now!"

"Yes!"

As soon as Anduin got up, most of the table followed. The hired musicians were bribed by Taelia to play typical pirate songs, very loud music that was composed for carefree dancing. Genn looked at them almost embarrassed by their attitude, but the atmosphere ended up winning and he joined, sober, to dance with his daughter. Anduin didn't know at all what he was doing, he ran from one side to the other, linking his arm with another's for a few seconds before moving on to the next, and he laughed when he found Tess, Taelia or Dereck.

Wrathion stared at the show in a chair out of the way, unwilling to join. He wasn't drunk and the noise was too annoying for his sense of hearing. Even so, he wasn't entirely bored, he had fixed his gaze on Anduin all that time and it pleased him to see him so happy. Lately the young king had been in a very bad mood because of stress, so he wanted to take advantage and see him happy, which was the thing he most likes to see in the world nowadays.

"Don't you want to join?" Wrathion didn't realize that Calia had placed a chair next to him to sit and chat.

"No, I don't like crowds and noise."

"You were looking at them so intensely that I thought you wanted to join."

"I'm no longer one of those who socializes with people easily."

"No longer? Did you do it often before?" Wrathion nodded. "Why don't you do it anymore?"

"I changed, now I'm more careful when I have to deal with people."

"More distrustful?" Wrathion smiled slightly.

"Much more. And you? Don't you want to join?"

"If I'm honest... I never liked parties of any kind."

"You're royalty, I thought you would be used to it."

"For being royalty is why I don't like it. As a child, I came to hate it a lot, it was all fake smiles and words that hid a lot of interest, that's why I lost mine. But if it's for special friends and the party is like this, it doesn't bother me so much anymore, but I keep my distance. Another reason is because I don't know how to dance." Calia looked at Wrathion and smiled. "Don't tell anyone I told you that, you would ruin my reputation." Wrathion understood that she was saying it with some sarcasm.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything."

"Don't you want to tell me a secret now?"

"I know how to dance, but I would only do it with someone special."

Wrathion stared at the people, now they all lined up and placed their hands on their shoulders or hips. The first one found the last in the line and they made a circle where they didn't stop jumping to the rhythm of the music. Wrathion only had eyes for Anduin and he saw him laugh and have a good time. Without a doubt, he would have only danced with him, either in a lively way or to the slowest song in the world.

When midnight came everyone began to retreat to their homes. Calia had to help Taelia to walk to the room Anduin lent her in the castle. The three dwarves who challenged Anduin to drink had to carry the little one in their arms as he was totally passed out. Genn looked at the mess they ended up making in the throne room almost depressed, he would have to pay a cleaning service for this.

"Will you have a honeymoon?" Wrathion asked Dereck.

"That's a surprise, you'll find out tomorrow." Dereck answered a little drunk, but kept it cool.

"Eh." Genn approached. "As long as you don't destroy anything else, do what you want, I have to pay enough for tonight alone." Dereck raised his thumb.

"Has everyone left?"

"Yes, except us and… him." Genn pointed to Anduin, he was collapsed on one of the tables, no one knew if he was asleep. "And now what do I do with the king of Stormwind? I have to wait for the cleaning, Mia is helping Tess..."

"If you want I can take him to his room." Wrathion offered. "It doesn't bother me." Genn looked up gratefully, as if some divinity had brought him salvation. Wrathion approached Anduin and patted him on the back. "Let's see, the light-boy who says he never drinks." Anduin raised his head half asleep. "There is a thing called bed where you can sleep." Wrathion helped the young king to get up and placed Anduin's arm around his shoulders so that he remained standing. Anduin smiled at him.

"Did you know that a black dragon kidnapped me once?"

"Yes, I know that story."

Perhaps the journey to his room was going to be longer than he imagined. Anduin walked with big difficulty and was unable to stay upright. Wrathion had to grab him by the waist and arm to lead him and Anduin kept talking about nonsense that had nothing to do with anything instead of concentrating on walking.

"And I remember my father hurt my arm when I told him I wanted to be a priest." Anduin said, sad. "But I wanted to follow my heart."

"You've already told me twice..."

"I remember I saw Genn for the first time in Darnassus… Darnassus… it was a beautiful city. Why didn't I visit it more times when I could? Now it's late... I'm going to visit it anyway!" Anduin broke free from Wrathion's grip suddenly, but was only able to take one step before falling to the ground. Wrathion sighed as he watched the young king sit up and look around in confusion. "That noise is horrible."

"Let's see..." Wrathion crouched down. "What noise?"

"That." Anduin pointed to the right, but scratched his head. "It was there ago… That one!"

"What are you talking about? I can't hear anything."

"Wait... I think it's my voice." Anduin smiled widely. "It's my own voice!"

"Alcohol is definitely over for you..." Wrathion rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Let's do one thing." Anduin seemed interested. "I'm going to carry you to your room, but you have to be quiet the rest of the way. Deal?"

"Mmmmmm, okay."

Wrathion thought he could finally make it to the room, they barely walked anything. Just as he said and without any difficulty due to his strength, Wrathion carried Anduin in his arms as if he was a bride like he weighed nothing. It was the first time he carried him like this and Wrathion never wanted to let go of him again. Anduin wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck and looked around.

"Whoa! How high!" he said, very surprised.

"I said quiet." Anduin pouted.

"You're a killjoy…"

Anduin dropped his head on the dragon's shoulder and Wrathion began to walk. After a few minutes at a very slow pace on purpose, they reached Anduin's room. Wrathion couldn't open it because his hands were full.

"Open the door." the young king didn't move. "Anduin?" the dragon looked at him. "It can't be… Have you fallen asleep?"

He had definitely fallen asleep on the way, now Wrathion understood why Anduin didn't speak all this time. Wrathion sighed and with difficulty opened the door and closed it using one foot. He laid Anduin carefully on the bed and tried to remove his blue jacket without waking him up, luckily Anduin was so sound asleep that he didn't even flinch. Wrathion left the coat on one of the chairs, sat on the edge of the bed, and began untying the shoelaces on Anduin's right boot.

"So this was your master plan?" he whispered as he took off one boot and went for the other. "You wanted me to attend the wedding so I could get you to bed safe and sound once you passed out." he put both boots on the ground and ran a hand through his hair while sighing. "Why do you do this to me?"

Wrathion looked at Anduin, he was breathing calmly thanks to his deep sleep and he realized that a button on his shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his chest a little. Looking like this, Anduin seemed so vulnerable and innocent, a very common and tempting side of him… Even Wrathion had his limits.

The dragon moved a little closer to see if he would disturb Anduin's sleep, but it seemed that he had a free way. He placed his hands at Anduin's sides and leaned over the exposed skin. He inhaled as soon as he was within inches of touching the skin. That smell… the way Anduin smelled… it was the worst drug in Azeroth and Wrathion was the biggest addict to it. Wrathion went up his neck without touching him, but close enough to feel it until he reached his cheek, that's when Wrathion stopped. He watched Anduin's sweet, sleeping face for a few seconds until he realized that he shouldn't do that, Anduin was drunk and shouldn't take advantage of it. Wrathion moved away and gently tucked Anduin before leaving.

"Good night, Anduin."

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Anduin had never experienced a hangover before, even showering was painful. He walked like a drunkard through the halls until he reached the dining room. Calia, Genn and Mia were there having breakfast and had to help him sit up while Anduin complained. Mia brought him a healthy breakfast to start the day and stroked his head while Anduin lay dying massaging his temples

"Now when Wrathion arrives with what I asked for, I will make you a concoction against the hangover." assured Calia.

"Promise me that you will never let me drink again..." Anduin said.

"Congratulations Anduin," Genn said. "you just entered the drinking club."

"I'm serious," the young king looked at him. "I will never drink again."

"You just earn the golden pass." the door opened and Wrathion entered with some herbs in hand.

"Morning all." greeted the dragon. He leaned close to Anduin's ear when he was close. "Hello!" Anduin squirmed because of the hangover.

"Don't do that!" Anduin covered his head with his arms. Mia looked at Wrathion as if telling him not to do that.

"Relax, I just picked this up for you... It was this, right?" Wrathion handed the herbs to Calia and she nodded in agreement.

It wasn't a very delicious remedy, but Anduin noticed the effects after a few hours before leaving for Kul Tiras again. They would have a peaceful day in Boralus thanks to a plan from Taelia. As Tess and Dereck confirmed that they weren't going to have a honeymoon since in SI:7 they were overwhelmed with work because the war didn't stop, they wanted to spend the day off together. Taelia told them about a beach east of Tiragarde that used to be empty and they decided to swim and take the day off there before heading back to their exhausting work. Anduin wasn't used to days of peace, but he accepted without hesitation.

Once in Boralus, some went for something to eat before going while Anduin, accompanied by Wrathion, went to tell Jaina that they would be in Boralus for a few days. There wasn't much exchange of words with Jaina, she only asked him to communicate her congratulations to the couple. Wrathion realized that there was a tension between them that wasn't there last time and asked as soon as they left.

"Did something happen between you and Jaina?"

"No, we're fine." a lie that Wrathion saw from afar.

"Okay, you'll tell me later." Anduin didn't even want to imagine how the dragon would react if he knew that he had destroyed their alibi. As they reached the Proudmoore Keep entrance, Wrathion stopped. "Well, have a good time."

"What?" Anduin frowned. "You're invited to come, the whole group plus Genn and Mia are going."

"It's just... I'm not very convinced."

"Why? It's just being on a quiet beach and getting into the water a bit, it's not that bad."

"Yes it is." Wrathion looked to the side. "I don't want to be seen..."

"What are you talking about?" Anduin hesitated for a second, he remembered something that Wrathion tried to hide from him long ago. "Is it because of the scars on your back?" as Wrathion said nothing, Anduin sensed that he got it right. "You don't have to be ashamed. Have you seen Genn shirtless? You don't know where the scar begins and ends... Or myself with the scars I have on my right knee from the accident."

"It's not the same, the ones I have are much more striking."

"Come on, it's not that bad, come with us." Anduin showed him his most pleading look, which was irresistible to Wrathion.

"If you let me do something before..."

"What are you going to do?"

"Get going, I'll be there in a few minutes." Anduin looked at him, doubtfully. "I promise I'll go."

Anduin would trust his word, and if he doesn't show up, he would drag him to the beach. The young king met Taelia at the southern gate of Boralus, so they went to the beach together. The others were already there putting some towels on the sand, they were totally alone. To Anduin's relief, Wrathion kept his promise, but it was a surprise that he showed up with Leo. The little boy was on surveillance for several days after the rescue because of the trauma he suffered and Wrathion thought it would be a good idea for him to feel the fresh air. Most wore short clothing as swimsuits and some jumped into the water without thinking.

"Will you show us a trick with the water?" Anduin asked Leo, but he just shrugged very seriously. They have already been warned that they should treat him gently.

"I want to see it." Taelia encouraged. "Shall we?" she offered her hand to the little boy and he accepted it. Only Anduin, Wrathion and Mia remained, but Mia wouldn't enter the water.

"Let's go, Wrathion." Anduin said. The dragon looked around as he took off his black jacket. "It wasn't that difficult, was it?"

"From your point of view..." Anduin realized that Wrathion hadn't removed the black wristbands that he always wore covering both forearms completely.

"You should remove the wri-." Anduin had brought his hand to Wrathion's left forearm to remove it, but the dragon stopped him with a quick move. When Anduin looked into his eyes, he saw a lot of fear all of a sudden, only comparable to the look he got when he saw the ghosts in The Blighted Lands. Wrathion was squeezing his wrist very hard and he was totally immobile. "You're hurting me." Wrathion released him, but withdrew his arm.

"I'm fine."

Wrathion put his hands in his pockets and walked toward the water. Anduin wondered why he had such a sudden reaction. Was something hiding under those wristbands? What would it be? But the problem is, Wrathion wouldn't tell him anything, like always.

They played for a long time in the water as if Leo wasn't the only child, after a long time watching battles with many dead, they could tell that they were having a good time. Leo even smiled while showing some tricks with the waters. Wrathion, Tess, and Calia came out of the water after a while to keep Mia company as they ate what they brought for snacks. Genn joined them after a few minutes, almost gasping from swimming with Dereck for a bit.

"Are you tired already?" Mia asked, smiling. "You will sleep like a baby today."

"Your wolf needs some petting." Genn lay down next to his wife and she petted his head. "Daughter, are you sure you want this? A honeymoon is usually something magical."

"What better way to spend your honeymoon with the people you love?" Tess said. "Besides, tomorrow we are assigned new missions, we wouldn't have time and apparently something is happening."

"And why don't any of us know? Not even Anduin?" Tess denied. "Wow... I hope it's not serious, I don't have many opportunities to see Anduin this happy. It's good that Taelia has proclaimed Anduin his brother, she has good ideas."

"Taelia calls Anduin 'pure little brother who must be protected' so I guess she wants him to be calm."

"Seriously?" Genn laughed. "And I thought she might be a candidate. Although this is not bad either."

"Speaking of which." Calia said. "I have not asked Anduin but... he has no arranged marriage?"

"No, Varian never took care of that." Genn scratched his beard. "After the Legion invasion, I asked him about it because I thought he was having doubts or problems choosing, I offered my help to guide him and give suggestions. But Anduin looked at me very seriously and said he wanted to choose for himself, he even made me promise to never bring it up again. Since then I no longer get involved in it, if he wants help he knows where I am."

"Well, that's very good." Wrathion said nothing, but he was very glad to hear that. Those who stayed in the water playing came closer.

"Did you eat it all?" Anduin asked, indignantly.

"No, there is still food." Mia answered. The young king didn't wait a second before starting to eat.

"Leo!" Taelia called. "Come and eat something!" the little boy didn't go right away with them, he took several minutes of indecision while the others ate. When Leo decided to get closer, he looked at the ground very worried as he clutched his hands, nervous, until Taelia realized. "What's wrong?"

"I have... I have to tell you one thing..." Leo's worried and almost scared voice caught everyone’s attention.

"What do you want to tell us?" Calia asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Someone tried to attack me last night."

"What?" Genn asked, sitting down.

"Who tried to attack you?" Anduin asked, very worried.

"It's just..." Leo sighed. "I was sleeping and suddenly in the dream I noticed something strange, like something was coming out of me, it was very painful. I opened my eyes very slowly and saw that there was someone in front of me, about a thumb from my face, and their eyes were red… They were the red eyes that I remember from the god of the depths."

"What!?" Anduin exclaimed. "Was it N'Zoth?"

"Yes... or no... I don't know, it was dark. It was a human, they ran away as soon as I wanted to move."

"Are you sure you didn't dream it?" Taelia asked.

"I know what I saw, it wasn’t a dream! And... now I'm scared."

"That’s normal." Genn said. "If it wasn't a dream then we have an infiltrator. You should be accompanied from now on, we don't know if they will return. Nor do we know what they wanted."

Anduin scratched his chin, that was horrible. Was it the mole that N'Zoth had around? No, Leo said they had N'Zoth's eyes and unless the old god was physically there, which was impossible, it could only be a mind controlled, they were the only ones who had his eyes. They chatted for a while without reaching any conclusion about what the old god wanted from Leo now, they could only agree that Leo needed protection in case it happens again. After a while, Anduin needed to move, he always did it when he couldn't think clearly, so he got up and stretched his arms.

"I'm going for a walk." he announced while pointing to his left. "I'll go to those rocks and see what's there, does anyone want to come?"

"But we're eating." Tess said. "I don't want to move now." Anduin looked at the others, but none seemed willing to accompany him. The young king looked at the dragon.

"Why do you always look at me when you want something?" Wrathion asked, laughing.

"Please, come with me." Anduin touched Wrathion's foot with his. "Please…" Wrathion sighed, but didn't hesitate to get up.

"Start walking before I change my mind." the two walked to the shore and turned towards the rocks.

"It's nice to have friends like that." Mia commented, smiling.

"Where do you think Wrathion got those scars on his back?" Dereck asked, a little curious.

"Maybe in a heavy fight against N'Zoth." Tess suggested.

"No." Genn assured. "Those aren't scars from a fight," the old wolf lay down. "they're from torture."

Anduin amused himself a little with the waves that came from the sea, retiring or sinking his foot in the sand when the water returned to the sea. From time to time he also splashed Wrathion by kicking the water at his feet.

"Do you think N'Zoth really attacked Leo?" Anduin asked.

"No, if he wanted to attack him, he would have done it yesterday."

"Then?" Wrathion shrugged. "Leo said he saw N'Zoth's eyes, it was a controlled one, right? Azshara I don't think it is because someone like that doesn't go unnoticed... It has to be the other one we don't know."

"Maybe…"

"What if he was trying to control him again?"

"I don't think so, N'Zoth isn't stupid. When I set foot in Boralus for the first time I could feel that there was a controlled there, Taelia who had been under control for a week. If he tried to get Leo again, I would already know. It would be very stupid of him... No... He was looking for something else."

"But what can it be?"

"I don't know."

"And don't you notice if the other controlled is close?"

"I already told you that this person has been under control for a long time, I don't know who it is, for now it's impossible to know." they both reached the rocks and Anduin snorted.

"I don't understand anything. Couldn't you try harder?" Wrathion looked at him accusingly, it wasn't like he could know that no matter how hard he tried. But his gaze drifted to Anduin's arm.

"What is that?" Wrathion pointed to the red mark on Anduin's left arm. The young king put his hand on his arm, for a few moments he had forgotten that during the week he had woken up several times with his own hand squeezing his arm. Even though the redness was more diffuse now, the dragon noticed anyway.

"Ah... it's nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing, it's just that I crashed into the door."

"Was the door shaped like a hand?" Anduin looked to the side. "What's wrong, Anduin?" the young king blinked somewhat surprised.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong with me, just like you."

"Excuse me?"

"Can you tell me why you have those scars? Or why did you have that panic face when I went to remove your wristbands? You hardly tell me anything really, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't have an-"

"Of course. You have nothing to tell me, so I have nothing to tell you either, we're at peace."

Anduin began to walk among the rocks. He wasn't sure he was the one who really spoke, it was his bad mood again. He felt some anger when Wrathion tried to demand him to speak when the dragon didn’t do it, that bothered him. But did he really want to make Wrathion pay just because he was a bit mad at him now? It didn't seem fair at all and he was messed up, he shouldn't pay it with anyone. Anduin suddenly saw that on top of a rather tall rock was a white clam, so he walked over to the rock and looked how he could climb it.

"What are you doing?" asked Wrathion.

"I want to catch that clam. If there is a pearl inside I'll give it to someone."

"Have you ever climbed rocks molded by water?"

"No... It won't be that difficult."

"I think you're going to slip easily." Anduin placed his fingers in small holes in the rock and tried to climb, but couldn't advance anything, he slipped immediately. Wrathion caught him from behind before he fell. As they were both shirtless, the dragon felt Anduin's soft skin against his, so he quickly pulled away and approached the rock. "I'll take it."

It was easy for him to climb any surface, he took the clam and gave it to Anduin. While they returned, the young king tried to open it, but it was too difficult, it had to be Wrathion again who helped him, with his supernatural strength it was like opening a bottle of water. Twilight had begun when they reunited with the others, bathing the sky in orange. Anduin gave the pearl to Mia.

"For you." Mia smiled at him as she took the pearl.

"Honestly, we should do these things more often." Dereck said.

"I agree." Anduin nodded.

He was absolutely right, days of relaxation like that were quite needed amid all the chaos. They watched the sun disappear little by little on the horizon, watching the colors change in the sky and Anduin wanted to repeat this day more times.

None of them had many reasons to suspect that this would be the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you have enjoyed the peace and quiet, from now on everything will become quite dark and we will all suffer.  
Next update? There's a problem, Shadowlands is going to come out now and maybe there will be days where I don't write anything (and if we add mental blocks, worse) but I'll try to bring it as soon as possible. Make sure to subscribe to receive notification when I do it or you can follow me on twitter (I also announce it), comments or kudos are well received and appreciated, I love them all.  
Difficult times are coming in every way, I hope that in your home and family environment you are well.  
Until next time!


	43. The day the Horde fell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. It took a while but here I am, nightmare before Christmas. I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, this chapter will be like my gift to those who still read this story, I hope you like it. I hope you will join me next year too :)
> 
> I hope it entertains you, sorry for grammar typos.

Lately, breakfasts didn't quite satisfy Anduin. He slowly lost his appetite, as if there was a portal in his stomach that took away all the food he consumed. He was pretty exhausted, it was only a day since he had the day off and it felt like several years have passed since then. Despite that, he tried to show his best smile to everyone so they wouldn't ask him. Tess and Dereck still haven't returned from their mission and Genn explained that he was a bit worried. Mathias had told him that something happened with Turalyon and Alleria and their crusade against the elves, but he still had no confirmations. The journey wasn't long, they let them use wizard portals to Arathi and then use flying mounts to go faster, but they were taking too long.

"Many leaders have come to Kul Tiras." Genn said while he was having breakfast with Anduin, Wrathion and Leo.

"Have they called a meeting that they haven't communicated to us?" Anduin asked, not very surprised.

"I haven't heard anything, but it's likely to happen."

"Probably related to Turalyon and Alleria, some rumor has reached me that something bad happened."

"Get ready, who knows what will happen." Genn got up from his chair. "I'm gonna ask around, I'll see you later."

Genn walked out the door and Anduin just sighed. What did the couple do now? Did they realize that killing civilians leads to something bad? Did Baine listen to him and send reinforcements to Lor'Themar?

"What do you bet that they were defeated and have returned with their tails between their legs to request help." Wrathion said quite sure.

"At this point I don't think they'll surprise me... I hope." Anduin looked at the little boy and smiled. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know." Leo answered seriously. His lively aura and good mood were gone.

"Try it." Wrathion encouraged. "Maybe you give us a clue by accident."

"Maybe everyone should take care of their own affairs and stay away from others, there wouldn't be the conflicts you have been complaining about lately." neither of them expected Leo to reply with an angry tone. The little boy picked up his glass to put it on the sink. Anduin looked at Wrathion and gestured with his head for him to say something since he was at a loss for words.

"Leo." Wrathion called. The little boy stopped and waited for Wrathion to speak. "Look, I understand you. The kidnapping and the stay in Orgrimmar must have been traumatic, but don't try to vent that anger and frustration on us. We want the best for you and for you to feel safe again, okay?" Leo looked at the ground somewhat embarrassed and nodded.

"Sorry, I should follow your advice and distract myself with things."

"It's okay." Leo took a few steps towards the door. "One more thing." Leo looked at him and Wrathion pointed at him. "Talk to me like that again and I'll open a new hole in your ass so big that you can put a cannon inside, do you understand me?" Leo nodded very quickly and left.

"You're the friend of the children." Anduin said sarcastically.

"If he doesn't speak to me in that tone, I won't threaten him. And I should apply it to you sometimes."

Anduin looked at him wondering if he was joking, and although Wrathion winked at him, he felt that deep down he called him out. He had been rude to Wrathion lately, using him like he was an emotional punching bag and Anduin hated feeling that way about him. The dragon was his best friend and the young king was treating him badly. If only they weren't stuck, since Gorak Tul they had no hints to follow and the stress of war was more noticeable than before… not to mention the Void. Anyway, Anduin wanted to make up for his attitude with Wrathion, he would ask him to spend the day together training and try to clear his mind with it, it had been a while since the last time. The plan however was going to go awry, or at least Anduin believed, when he saw Dereck running towards him in concern.

"Anduin!" the spy exclaimed once he stopped in front of him.

"Great, now what happened?" Anduin asked, tired.

"I've been looking for you for a long time, I don't know if I will have time. It's because of the job they gave us, the one in which we had to see what happened in the Ghostlands with the crusade that Turalyon and Alleria were carrying out."

"And what happened?"

"Baine listened to you, he notified Lor'Themar and sent reinforcements. The attack has failed." Anduin blinked in surprise at the news.

"So there was no slaughter?"

"No, they could only conquer the main village, Tranquillien, but the elves didn't give up all the territory."

"Wait." Wrathion interrupted. "What's the problem then?"

"It's just..." Dereck scratched the back of his head. "I heard Turalyon saying that there was a betrayal... I think they know."

"That’s not possible." Anduin said. "It's something that remained between us..." Anduin felt a certain panic and mistrust. "Has any of us betrayed us?"

"Calm down." reassured Wrathion. "I don't think that happened, none of the guardians would do something like that."

"How can you be so sure?" the dragon frowned.

"There are very few people we can trust, if we start to suspect each other it will do us more harm than good. Besides, I highly doubt that any of us said anything. I think they invented an excuse to get rid of guilt instead of accepting the defeat."

"All the leaders have come here with us through the portal." Dereck said. "Surely there will be a meeting and everything will be explained... now…"

Dereck looked something in the distance and Anduin followed his gaze, Mathias was getting closer. The spymaster immediately reported that a meeting was going on and Anduin was the only one missing. The young king sighed, he wasn't liking this at all, and the idea that perhaps someone within the guardians could betray them was invading all his thoughts. Mathias accompanied him to the room where the meeting would take place, full of leaders, like the old days, who caused him the same anxiety as then. He was surprised that even Tyrande and Velen were there. But he didn't like the atmosphere, it was tense. Tess looked at him worried, as if she feared the worst, before Anduin took a seat. The first to speak was Genn.

"Well, what has happened?" asked the old wolf.

"The situation in the Alliance is worse than we imagined." Turalyon replied.

"Based on what?"

"You all remember that we were attacking in Sin'dorei territory, right?" they all nodded. "When we did it secretly, we did very well, they never anticipated and we were able to conquer the entire southern part... Everything was going well and without difficulties until we explained our plans in the last meeting."

"What do you mean?" Tyrande asked.

"Doesn't it seem too coincidental to you that we explain our plans and suddenly the Sin'dorei receive us prepared with defenses and reinforcements that were never there?"

"You have been attacking them for a while, it seems logical that they defend themselves."

"You weren't there, Tyrande, we are good strategists and that shouldn't have happened. We left spies around the area and they told us that it was something very spontaneous and calculated, as if someone had warned them that we were going now." Anduin gulped. Baine must have been very meticulous with Lor’Themar to prepare. "But that is the least of our problems. I received a letter recently, a notice that someone within the Alliance had warned our enemies that we were going."

"What?" Genn asked. "Who was it?"

"I want to give the person who has betrayed us the opportunity to confess to everyone." nobody said anything, everyone was waiting for someone to speak. "Don't you want to talk now? I guess you talked enough when you spoke to the Horde. Are you sure you don't want to say anything, Anduin?" all eyes turned to the young king.

"Excuse me?" Anduin asked, quite pale.

"It was you. The letter incriminated you that you told the Horde our plans, that's why we found that situation there."

"What are you talking about, Turalyon?" Genn asked, but Turalyon raised his hand.

"The kid can defend himself. What do you have to say, Anduin?"

"I don't…" Anduin noticed that his throat was dry. "I wouldn't do something like that, ever. It's not possible."

"But you contacted someone from the Horde recently."

"That's a lie!" Anduin had to think for a moment. "You only have an anonymous letter that accuses me, do you really trust an anonymous letter instead of me?"

"It is not anonymous." Jaina intervened. "It was me who wrote it." the room fell into an overwhelming silence. Anduin had no words, he couldn't process what he had just heard.

"Wait a moment." Velen said. "Jaina, can you explain why you think Anduin did something like that?"

"It's not an assumption, he told me himself." Jaina looked at Anduin seriously, he only returned a look of total surprise. "The Tidesages were kidnapped in an attack by the Horde, only Leo returned with us and returned with Anduin. I found it weird that they could rescue him from Orgrimmar unseen and the story they told me about how they did it, I honestly didn't believe it. When I spoke to Anduin I was already sure that they were lying and I realized that he was telling it as if he had studied it, not as if he had experienced the situation, so I made him confess the truth. They didn't infiltrate Orgrimmar, what they did was a barter, trade Leo for information." another silence fell in the room.

"Are you... sure about it?" asked Moira.

"Yes, the dates coincide. They made the deal with Baine. When Leo returned, a few days later Turalyon and Alleria arrived at the Ghostlands and there they saw that the Sin'dorei were prepared with tauren as reinforcements. Before Alleria's letter explaining the situation reached me, I wrote to her warning that Anduin had told Baine and that they would find resistance. My letter didn't make it in time." Jaina looked almost compassionately at the young king. "I'm sorry, Anduin, but it should be known."

Anduin said nothing, he couldn't. They all started talking, demanding details or proof of Jaina's accusation. Turalyon and Alleria obviously believed Jaina, they would take any opportunity to blame Anduin for anything, they have held a grudge against him for a long time. Genn defended him for lack of evidence and the others just doubted. But none of that mattered to Anduin right now.

It was always difficult for Anduin to feel genuine affection for someone. Many people throughout his life tried to gain his trust to take advantage of him, so he always had very clear the line between real and courteous affection. He thought his choices were good, but today, he was wrong. He never imagined that the person who would betray him was going to be Jaina, among the few people for whom he had deep affection and trust, Jaina was the one who mercilessly stabbed him in the back. When he told her that someone helped him, she said "forget it" and he thought that Jaina would insist at another time, but he didn't imagine that she would say it in front of all the leaders and now Anduin could only look at her with pain.

And it wasn't just Jaina's betrayal, he realized that Tess was looking at him quite incredulously. It was normal, Anduin thought, it was she who explained the plan to follow and insisted on sticking to it. A few minutes ago Anduin foolishly thought that someone in the group had sold them. How delusional he felt now, for it was he himself who had screwed up everything. He saw himself now as the world's worst friend and leader, he had failed everyone.

_They will eat you alive if they keep arguing. This is the first group that you will have to give explanations, the second will be even worse for you. You can only do two things: run or lie. Choose well._

Now the voice gives him options? They weren't good, neither were. And the worst thing is that it was right about something, after this meeting he would have to discuss all this with the guardians and it would affect him the same or more.

"I think it's clear what we should do." said Turalyon. "Traitors in the Alliance with such high positions? No. We have already been lenient enough with Anduin, we already became accustomed to his rebellious acts months ago with the matter of Nazmir and Dazar’alor, but this time it's serious. We should remove his position as high king in the Alliance to begin with."

"Wait a minute, slow down." Genn tried to calm down.

"We cannot deliver the message that the Alliance can be betrayed without repercussions!"

"But there is no clear proof. And it's not like everyone knows this either."

"Everyone who went with us knows." Alleria clarified. "And we said we would take actions on it."

"That was a mistake." Tyrande said. "You can't make that kind of promise without knowing one hundred percent if it’s true. Also, Genn is right, there is only Jaina's testimony and we don't know to what extent it is true." Turalyon clicked his tongue.

"The fact that Anduin didn't say a word seems to me more than obvious proof." Turalyon pointed out. "You won't say anything about it?" Anduin was still processing what was happening and didn't realize that, indeed, he didn't say anything.

"I didn't do it." the young king's voice trembled when he spoke. "I would never do something like that, I didn't say anything to anyone."

"But you told me you collaborated with Baine." Jaina assured. "And after confessing, Alleria confirmed to me by letter that they had reinforcements from the tauren people."

"That's a coincidence!" at the denial, Turalyon turned around and almost laughed. "I swear on my life that I didn't betray you, any of you. Jaina misunderstood what I said."

"Explain to me then." Jaina demanded.

"It is true that I collaborated with a member of the Horde to return Leo to us. But it wasn't Baine, it was a warden who opposed Sylvanas, like many other members of the Horde in secret. We didn't want to say anything about him because he obviously doesn't want to be discovered. But I never told any leader of the Horde your plans." there was silence until Turalyon sighed.

"I don't believe it, there is no proof of that."

"You don't have it either that I did it!"

"Stop it! Everyone!" Genn exclaimed, banging on the table. "One says one thing, the other says another. Enough of this, we aren't little children."

"There's only one here." Turalyon replied in a bad way.

"Turalyon, no. You have lost the battle and instead of calling for reinforcements from there while holding your position, you have come here based on something Jaina told you without any proof. I don't know if you want something to help you on the crusade or if you have come to blame someone else so you won't feel defeated." there was no answer. "Well?"

"We need more Azerite, a lot more." Turalyon said. "But you," he pointed to Anduin. "for me, you are not part of the Alliance." Turalyon left the room followed by Alleria.

Anduin just looked at him seriously, avoiding saying what he really thought. He also looked at Jaina when she left the room, he couldn't believe she had done that. He always tried to hold on to the fact that Jaina had been present in his life, that she was his “aunt” and, even if she had problems with the Horde, she could be trusted. But that has to end, he couldn't do it anymore even if it hurt, Jaina was capable of betraying him if necessary in order to fight against the Horde. As soon as he stepped out of the room, Genn grabbed Anduin by the shoulder to lead him away and speak alone. It didn't surprise him, considering that the old wolf was the first to defend him, now he wanted to make sure he did the right thing. He took him to a lonely place and made sure they were alone.

"Anduin, you have to tell me the truth." Genn said in a low voice.

"I said it already…"

"Don't make excuses. Listen to me carefully." Genn sighed. "I'm not going to do anything to you or get angry, I don't care if you warned Baine about the attacks on the elves or not, it doesn't matter. The others were silent because they didn't know what to say or what to think, I can clarify everything. But I want you to tell me the truth. Did you do what Jaina said or not?" Anduin hesitated for a few seconds. Part of him wanted to tell him the truth, as he always did. But Anduin was no longer himself, the voice manipulated him. It kept telling him to lie and Anduin listened to it, as if he were hypnotized. _If someone who was very dear to you has betrayed you, this man can do it too. Lie or die._

"I didn't say anything to Baine, I swear."

"Are you sure? You can tell me, it's all good."

"Sure, Jaina just misunderstood what I said." Genn sighed and nodded.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. In that case they won't lock you up for treason or anything, I'll take care of talking to the others."

Had Anduin become what he had always despised? He was a liar and took advantage of Genn's good will, the only person who wanted to help him. Anduin almost ran to his room before finding someone else. Surely Tess wanted to talk to him or she had already told everything to the others and now they were waiting for him, but mentally he couldn't talk to anyone now, he was devastated. He couldn't explain what he felt. Anduin felt the betrayal of someone very dear, he felt that he himself betrayed his own friends and on top of that he lied and took advantage of the only one who had faith in him. The rush of emotions was overwhelming, Anduin had the feeling that he wanted to cry, but not a tear came out. He didn't know how to define it,  on one hand he  felt many things,  but on the other he felt strange ly empt y .

_You did well, you did very well._

The voice was praising him, as if what he did was right. He hated it, he hated that voice and still, he believes it, forced him with a few words. After all, wasn't that the power of the Void? All those important people, all powerful beings, became helpless before the voices of the Void after a while. Was the same thing happening to him? Could he even do something to avoid it? No, he couldn't, it had total control over him. He didn't know when he gave that permission or when it started, but it was his new reality. And the worst thing is that the voice wouldn't let him tell anyone, it was the little secret between them.

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The old tauren legends say that when The Mother Earth suddenly decided not to make the lands fertile, it was because something bad was going to happen. Baine realized this as soon as he sent reinforcements to Lor’Themar. The news came from Thunder Bluff, they couldn't produce new food and they would probably go through a rough time. It was bad news and he couldn't ask for too much help either because food was also lacking in other capitals or because they didn't care. That's why he was in Dazar’alor these days, Talanji was going to help him. As they were the new allies in the Horde, the Zandalaris helped in any way they could despite the losses in battles against the Alliance, they wanted to make a good impression now more than ever after losing much of their fleet. Baine had two missions there, getting help with food and helping Lor’Themar. Although the Sin'dorei remained quite isolated in their territory and the wizards had difficulty creating portals to Orgrimmar due to the Alliance blocking important ley lines, Zandalar was close enough to create portals without problems. That's why Baine came and went from Zandalar constantly, the talks with Lor’Themar’s officers had to be done there.

That night, Baine met with Halduron, the Ranger-General, and two great warriors of his tribe while Mayla and Ebyssian offered to speak with Talanji to ask for food and take some of the stress out of him. The meeting with Halduron was at The Great Seal, they had a small space with a table where they could talk.

"With these units, do you think it is enough?" Baine asked.

"It may be enough." Halduron answered. "As I already mentioned, the Alliance has withdrawn, but we do not know if it is something tactical and they will return with more or they will definitely leave us alone."

"Better safe than sorry. I'll order them to stay in Silvermoon long enough until you are safe." Baine placed his hand on the shoulder of one of his men. "This is Dosmu, he has leadership skills and knows how to make good strategies, he will be my representative." Halduron shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you. We will return him safe and sound." Dosmu bowed slightly and moved to his side. "We'd better go, it's getting late and I still have to talk to my lord."

"Good luck on the defense, I hope everything goes well."

"You have the eternal gratitude of my lord Lor’Themar."

They both bowed before Halduron walked away with Dosmu. It was incredible to Baine that he was the only one helping him. Where had the companionship of the Horde gone?

"High Chieftain, should I go back to Thunder Bluff and supervise the new recruits?" asked one of his commanders. "Or should I go to Silvermoon with the next group?"

"You better go back to Thunder Bluff. Many have come to help the Sin'dorei, I also need someone I can trust at home."

"Understandable. Will you stay in Dazar’alor or Orgrimmar?"

"I will try to stay in Dazar’alor as long as I can before they claim me in Orgrimmar again."

They both walked to the port, Baine had to meet Mayla and Ebyssian at the Grand Bazaar once they were done. In the darkness of the night, part of the road wasn’t visible, but the calm of the night was pleasant. After several minutes walking without saying anything of importance, they began to approach the Grand Bazaar through the less lit path. Before arriving, Baine saw a group of people approaching. To his big surprise once they approached a torch, he saw that it was Nathanos accompanied by a group of Forsaken.

"Nathanos?" Baine asked. "Weren't you in Orgrimmar?" the undead stopped just ahead.

"Traitor!"

Nathanos punched him near the lip hard enough to knock him to the ground. In surprise, Baine fell without being able to react for the first seconds, but when he tried to get up, several Forsaken immobilized him, causing him several cuts with the daggers they carried so he wouldn't get up again because of the pain. They also did the same with his companion, no matter how strong they were, the numerical disadvantage was too big, Nathanos had brought many with him. One of the Forsaken nailed a dagger into Baine's left hand to make him stop moving. The pain was almost unbearable and Baine stopped trying to free himself.

"What are you doing!?" Baine angrily asked Nathanos.

"You're in custody for treason." Nathanos answered.

"What treason?"

"Release of an important prisoner." Baine blinked. How could he know...?

"What evidence do you have?" the Forsaken who thrust the dagger into his hand, twisted it a bit and made Baine whine in pain.

"Answers will come in due time."

"You have no right..."

"I don't, but the Warchief does." Nathanos looked at one of his Forsaken. "I have to speak to Queen Talanji, you secure the two prisoners... and then detain the remaining ones."

Baine shuddered. The remaining ones? Were they also after Mayla and Ebyssian? With the physical damage inflicted, the Forsaken were able to take both Baine and his companion into The Great Seal where they would remain in custody until further notice.

Mayla was circling around the Grand Bazaar, right where she had to meet Baine after he had spoken to Halduron. As Baine was late, Ebyssian said he would go find him in case something happened. But now it was Ebyssian who was missing and Mayla was getting nervous. It wasn't until after several minutes that Ebyssian appeared running towards her.

"Mayla!" exclaimed the old dragon. Mayla saw that he looked very worried and became concerned.

"What happened?"

"They know." Mayla frowned. "I've seen Nathanos with a group of Forsaken detaining Baine."

"What!? But… It's not possible… They cannot know!" Mayla looked around, everything seemed calm. "We have to help Baine. Why didn't you intervene?"

"Because they have come prepared, they have two mages with crystals to nullify my magic, I can't get close to them. They want to arrest us too, we have to get out of... here..." the dragon looked back, they were already approaching. He grabbed Mayla by the arm and they ran across the west side of the Grand Bazaar. But the Forsaken were fast.

"Where will we go?" Mayla asked, very worried.

"We cannot go to any area that is under Horde control. Nor can we go back to Highmountain, it would be the first place where they would look for us."

"So?"

"You have to go with the guardians, you have to warn them. If the Horde knows we made a deal with Anduin, the Alliance may know as well, they may be in danger. Go to the house and tell them."

"Wait, why do you say I should do it myself?" Ebyssian looked at her, sadly.

"Do you remember Torv?" Mayla nodded. "Follow this path and leave Dazar’alor until you reach Mugambala. Once there, go down to the small beach, Torv is there with a boat. Tell him to take you to Kul Tiras and once there, let them know that we have been caught."

"But you can come too, I won't leave you here." the Forsaken were a few meters away from them, Ebyssian pushed Mayla.

"Run! Get out of here and get help!" Mayla hesitated.

"I'll be back for you!"

Mayla had no choice but to flee, the Forsaken found them very quickly and Ebyssian would stay to hold them. Once he saw Mayla away, Ebyssian exposed himself to the Forsaken to stop them and buy time. A Forsaken was missing there, the most important aside from Nathanos for having an important object he saw. One of the undead lunged first, trying to stab him with his daggers in non-vital parts, but Ebyssian was able to defend himself with his ax. It didn't take long for him to use fire to try to burn him or take cover in a wall of fire. The Forsaken who attacked him first he quickly incinerated, but got distracted by finishing him off. Ebyssian didn't have time to react to the other undead who crept up behind him, the one carrying the dangerous object. Unable to turn around, the Forsaken wrapped a blue collar around his black neck and the flames instantly disappeared. No one ever put an anti magic necklace on him before, the feeling was quite strange, he stopped feeling the magic flow inside him, he couldn't even transform into a dragon. Still, Ebyssian tried to fight and not surrender, but in the end, being only one against a dozen, he was defeated.

Mayla ran through Mugambala as Ebyssian said. Although it pained her to leave her adviser behind, she couldn't deny that he was right, everyone should be warned. She trusted that the guardians would help her, that solidarity in the group wasn't a mere facade. When she started to leave Mugambala, Mayla sensed movement to her left, one of the Forsaken had followed her. She recognized him quite quickly, it was Cederick, once again the Forsaken was standing in her way.

"I knew you would betray us." said the undead. "You were weak, you never belonged to the Horde."

"We belong to the Horde before the Azerite, not whatever you are now."

"Traitor!"

Mayla grabbed her spear and parried the sword strike. Cederick didn't give her a second to breathe, he was always a fast warrior, but Mayla was good with a spear and could confront him. With a sword swipe, Cederick pushed the spear away and took the opportunity to punch near the mouth to destabilize her, but Mayla recovered quickly and sent him away with a kick. The Forsaken charged again, changing the direction of the blow at all times, until he was able to cut into Mayla's right arm. That wasn't good, the cut wasn't superficial and it was on her dominant arm. Mayla had to shift her body weight to the left, she could defend herself but not attack well, she only had one chance left once she saw the opportunity. Mayla could only dodge by taking a step back until she saw the opportunity. Although she was injured and her strength wasn't the same, as soon as she saw that Cederick missed an attack, Mayla cut off his hand with which he was holding the sword with one blow. It was the disadvantage the Forsaken had, they could be easily maimed. Taking advantage of the surprise, Mayla made the last blow on the Forsaken's chest and he fell to the ground. After withdrawing her spear, Mayla breathed calmly, she had killed a Sylvanas' loyalist and felt no remorse. As she took a step, however, Cederick grabbed her foot and completely startled her.

"You will not... escape..." he said half dead. Mayla held her spear, she had forgotten that you had to pierce the head of the undead for them to die permanently. But it wasn't she who executed him, an ax was thrown from some direction and landed on Cederick's head. Mayla looked to her right and saw that it was Torv who threw the ax, he was now running towards her.

"High Chieftain!" Torv recovered his ax. "Oh no, he hurt you!"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"I heard a fight nearby and I approached, but I see you got rid of him without my help."

"I did okay, he was just a little fast."

"Ebonhorn told me that one day you would need to flee from here. What has happened?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start... Baine and Ebonhorn have been arrested." Torv blinked, surprised at the revelation. "They also want to arrest me, you have to take me away."

"Of course, the boat is very close. Let's go back to Highmountain."

"No, we can't go there, they'd catch me. You have to take me to Kul Tiras."

"Kul Tiras? But that's enemy territory... and a very dangerous one." Mayla placed a hand on Torv's shoulder.

"Listen to me, you have to take me there. There are people in Kul Tiras who can help us, you have to. I'll tell you the exact place to dock. You have to trust me." Torv only thought about it for a second.

"Okay, if you say that's for the best, I'll take you to Kul Tiras. Let's go, it's over here."

Mayla sighed in relief and followed Torv. The boat was very small, a typical fishing boat from her tribe, they boarded without problems and began the journey through the sea that separated Zandalar and Kul Tiras while Mayla explained why they were after them.

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That day, Anduin didn't leave his room. He spent hours in his bed staring at nothing without finding a shred of motivation to move. The only voice he could hear was the one of the Void, twisting his thoughts and magnifying his insecurities. It was like a snowball rolling down the mountain, at first it was small, but at a certain point it would pick up speed and get bigger. Anduin began with a small "they will give me an uncomfortable talk because they are angry at me" and ended with a "they hate me, as soon as they see me they will kill me".   
There were people who came to look for him, he recognized the voices of Genn, Mathias and Tess, but Anduin pretended not to be there, so they left, only one noticed. The last one to knock on his door was Wrathion, saying that he knew Anduin was there thanks to his smell, but Anduin didn't dare speak to him. The dragon said that he would stay in front of his door until he left if necessary, Anduin didn't believe him at all and the voice told him that the dragon would leave at some point. The only complaint the young king had was that he hadn't eaten anything all day and his stomach was screaming in agony. Night had fallen hours ago, maybe he wouldn’t find anyone and could take something to eat. Hesitantly, he got out of his bed and put on his boots. He was quite surprised to open the door and see that Wrathion had stayed there the entire time. Neither he nor the voice expected it. The dragon looked at Anduin with a frown.

"Finally. What's wrong with you?" asked Wrathion, visibly concerned.

"Nothing…"

"Don't even think about lying to me. What's wrong?" Anduin cut eye contact, he didn't want to lie to Wrathion.

"It's just that I'm hungry." Wrathion looked at him with little conviction as the young king started walking in search of food.

"Okay, nice. And after that? Do you lock yourself in the room again?" before Anduin's silence, the dragon had enough. "Hey, Anduin." Wrathion stopped him with one hand. "If you're waiting for me to read your mind, know that I can't do that. What happened and why does everyone seem so nervous?"

"They haven't told you?" Wrathion shook his head and Anduin was surprised. "Tess hasn't said anything to any of the guardians?"

"I've seen her talking to some, but I went looking for you because I want to ask you." oh no, he didn't want Wrathion to hate him too.

"Just... let me eat something first."

Wrathion sighed, but didn't want to insist either because he clearly saw that Anduin wasn't doing well. Before he knocked on Anduin's door, he saw that the leaders’ meeting ended in a tense mood. Some could tell they were angry and saw Anduin running away. He knew that Tess was looking for everyone, but preferred to speak to Anduin first. Now he wasn't sure which was the best option, maybe he should have talked to Tess first. There wasn't much to eat, it was late and the best was already eaten. Anduin could only eat a steak with salad to satisfy himself and once he finished he had to consider what to do, explain what happened or lock himself in the room forever.

"Anduin." that's exactly what he needed, Tess had seen him. Why did everything go wrong?

"Hello." he greeted without energy.

"We need to talk now. We're all in the house."

"Perfect," said Wrathion. "so you can tell me what's going on."

Tess looked at Wrathion in surprise and then at Anduin. The young king was pretty sure that Tess couldn't believe the dragon didn't know yet. Anduin's intrusive thoughts saying that Tess would be thinking that he was a coward for not telling Wrathion the truth were very loud. The walk to the house almost in darkness was strange, nobody said anything and, for the first time, Anduin felt that the silence between them was totally uncomfortable, something that hadn't happened before. As Tess said, when they got to the house, they saw that Dereck, Calia and Taelia were talking to Varok. Everyone looked at Anduin accusingly and he felt extremely trapped. He tried to assimilate that it would be like this, but reality was beyond any scenario he could imagine.

"What a good day today." Tess said. "It has been wonderful."

"For me it has been only black clouds.” Anduin replied.

"Enough." Wrathion complained. "What happened?"

"Tell him, Anduin, you're the one who caused it." the young king shook his head. "No? It turns out Anduin told Jaina that we made a deal with Baine to get Leo back." there was a small silence and Wrathion seemed like he wasn't processing what he had just heard. "Jaina spoke to all of us, the last one was Anduin. Turns out he told her and she sent a letter to Alleria and Turalyon warning them about what we had done so it wouldn't take them by surprise to find resistance. That letter didn't arrive in time and they were defeated, but they read it anyway and they explained what we did and well… It's not that they appreciate us now."

"You're all out of danger." Anduin clarified. "The problem is with me alone."

"WHAT!?" Wrathion yelled once he managed to process it. He stared at Anduin and approached. "How can you say that to Jaina!?" the dragon raised his voice quite a bit.

"She cornered me, okay?"

"No, it's not okay. Damn, we had a plan, a simple plan that said 'let's not go off script' and this way, even if they suspected, the testimony would always be the same. We all agreed, no one got out of line, not even Leo!"

"What did you want me to do!?" Anduin raised his voice too.

"Don't say it! We've all been through the same thing, don't think she just asked you, and even so we all stuck to the idea. Don't you realize that they couldn't check if we were lying or not because they can't interrogate the tauren? It was just us!"

"But she knows me very well! She knew I was lying and she remembered that in the pre-rescue meeting I said that I would probably get help. What did you want me to do!?"

"Well, keep saying no! And on top of that you go and tell Jaina. If you had told Genn, well, something can still be done. But we are talking about Jaina! You know perfectly well that she doesn't like us and will take advantage of anything to screw us!"

"LIE!" Anduin realized that he had crossed his line of nerves, patience and anger. The voice gave him two options again; '_Lie or run away_' and this time he was going to choose the second. "You haven't the remotest idea of what really happened! You? Nothing is going to happen to you, the only head they want is my head. I am the only one of us they want to see dead!" no one answered so Anduin only felt his body burning with anger. The young king walked to the door, he wanted to run away.

"Wait." Wrathion grabbed his arm, as if trying to reassure him, but Anduin violently pulled away.

“I had enough, I’m sick of you!”

Anduin stormed out the door into the cold night and ran towards Stormsong Valley, going up the mountain. He didn't see anything, today was so foggy that it didn't let the light of the moon and the stars pass through. He ran until he reached some trees very close to the Highland Pass with the valley. Anduin leaned his back against the bark of the tree and dropped to the ground. At least the cold was taking away the anger, but he put his hands to his head, he was hurt. They hated him, they sure hated him for everything he did, he would do it if he was in their position too. He wasn't sure if it was the voice twisting his thoughts to the extreme, but he convinced himself that he was alone. More than half of the Alliance wanted him out, the guardians weren't going to forgive him, in one day everything had gone wrong.

_You are not alone, I am on your side... I will always be on your side..._

Anduin was still lucid enough to understand that it was all the voice's fault, it was the voice that forced him with a few words to say and do things. But… it was right, only the voice was with him, it was the only company… and Anduin didn't want to be alone, it was a very unpleasant feeling.

_It doesn't matter if they turn their back on you, they don't understand you, they can't. Stay with me, I can help you get rid of those feelings that hurt you so much._

He wasn't too sure that was a good thing, but he was hypnotized, rocking in a dangerous dark abyss and he didn't have the will to turn away, it was all stolen from him. Before the voice spoke to him again, something moved to his right. It was quite imperceptible at first, it only seemed like a small movement in the shadows, but Anduin jumped up from the ground and used the Light to see who or what was there. Today Anduin had so many surprises, but he didn't imagine that he would continue to find more.

"Mayla?"

Anduin lowered his hand to get a better look at her. Mayla looked very tired and was looking at him as if she had found a treasure. He noticed that she had a wound on her arm from which a little blood was gushing out. What was she doing there in the middle of the night? And where were Baine and Ebyssian?

"Anduin…" Mayla fell to her knees to the ground.

"Mayla!" Anduin got closer to help her. "What happened? What are you doing here?"

"I need your help…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jaina how could you :(  
Baine :((((  
ANDUIN :((((((((
> 
> What a gift I have given, everything has been screwed up and the factions started to break... and it's only the beginning.  
I will see you next year, as always I will try to bring it quickly but I can't promise anything. Until next time!


	44. Exodus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I hope you have started the year well. I'm not too well, little motivation to do something. Among all things there is this story and I feel more and more that it's not worth it, that what I want to do is beyond my ability and gives a lot of headache, and why do I do it anyway? I have questioned myself many times, I think I'm trying for nothing. Anyway, I leave you this chapter that I think is wrong in many things, but I cannot improve it, I can't translate it better either.  
Enjoy.

Although he disliked the idea a bit, Anduin had to go back to the house with Mayla. There was no other choice, the tauren was injured and had a lot to tell. The young king didn't ask for now, he didn't want Mayla to repeat the story twice, he only helped her get to the house. No one had left, they were there discussing the situation and were very surprised when they both went through the door. Calia got up to make room for Mayla and offered her food since she seemed somewhat hungry. They immediately asked what had happened and Mayla explained how spontaneous it all was. Baine and Ebyssian were now being held in Dazar’alor for treason, they also wanted to arrest Mayla but she narrowly escaped, probably in a few days they would be taken to Orgrimmar and… they would kill both of them. Also the fact that Baine and Mayla were leaders representing their races endangered all their people. Who says Sylvanas won't burn Thunder Bluff or Highmountain for this?

"So they saw you taking Leo out of Orgrimmar, right?" Tess said.

"It's impossible." Mayla assured. "We checked a thousand times if someone was there, I didn't see anyone, neither did Baine and Ebonhorn could smell it if someone was near, but there was no one. And it was late, we used the dark in our favor. I don't get it…"

"What if someone suspected you were doing something strange?"

"We had alibis, Baine was even in a meeting with Sylvanas when I took Leo out."

"Well, something must have gone wrong." Dereck said. "Maybe someone was looking for you while you were traveling and warned everyone that you were all missing."

"Ebonhorn and I investigated that when we returned, but no one asked for us that night, it was late when we left." everyone was thoughtful. "You told me that the Alliance knows it too, what about that?"

"Oh, that was Anduin." said Tess. "He told Jaina that we bartered with you and then she told Turalyon and Alleria. Those two told all the soldiers who were with them and later explained it at the leaders meeting."

"What?" Mayla looked at Anduin, he was right next to her healing the cut she had on her arm.

"I'm not going to talk about it, leave me alone." said the young king, annoyed.

"But that means the Horde and the Alliance know what we did, it's too many people!"

"Wait a moment." Wrathion cut in. The dragon hadn't said anything in all that time, he had been thinking about the situation until he realized something. "Let's recap, you say that you're sure that nobody saw you taking Leo out and that they imprisoned another person in your place for treason, right?" Mayla nodded. "The day after the rescue, Anduin told Jaina, that same day Jaina sent the letter to Turalyon and Alleria warning them that we made a pact with the tauren, then those two told the entire army what happened because they believed Jaina, so far everything correct?" they all nodded. "What if... What if there’s a traitor in the ranks of Turalyon and Alleria? Or maybe a spy from Lor’Themar heard it all and wasted no time telling Sylvanas."

"I doubt Lor’Themar did that." Dereck said. "Mayla said that only they have helped him, it would be strange if he accepted Baine's help and then sold him that way. But maybe there's a traitor in that crusade who told Sylvanas, I believe it."

"Yes…" Calia murmured. "That may have happened. Information like this is very important, maybe someone sold all of this to Sylvanas."

"There is another more insane option." Wrathion commented. "What if Sylvanas always knew? It doesn't matter if no one saw you or if there's a traitor in the Alliance, maybe she has known it since the beginning that you would do something like that."

"I don't think she will risk jailing and executing two leaders on an assumption." Mayla said.

"But you have told us that Sylvanas is a paranoid who sees traitors everywhere."

"Yes but... Well..." Mayla rectified. "You may be right."

Anduin wasn't paying much attention to what they were saying now. Did Sylvanas suspect it and detain them? It might be so, he had heard so many times about her paranoia, it could be so. Did someone in the Alliance who was in Turalyon and Alleria crusade tell Sylvanas what they did and get a bounty for it? It was a good hypothesis, and he wished it were so. Anduin could laugh a lot if that was true. A few hours ago, they accused him of being a traitor, the irony would be fantastic if there was a true traitor in their ranks who passed information to the Horde. Anduin would find it so amusing he would laugh in their faces, no revenge would taste better than that, nothing else would matter to him. But Anduin realized that it wasn't really him who was thinking that, the voice twisted his thoughts again. It was then when it happened something that had never happened, the Light wasn't flowing. He had almost cured Mayla's wound when the Light started to flick on his hands, he wasn't healing and that scared him a bit. Anduin had to force his concentration for the Light to return and finish the cure. This was starting to scare him. Was he losing his connection to the Light or was it something punctual? He didn't want something like that to happen.

"I don't know what to do..." Mayla said, sad. "I don't want Baine and Ebonhorn executed, we have to do something. We are a group, right?"

"We can try to save them." Taelia said quite sure. "They're in Dazar’alor, right? We have time before they are taken to Orgrimmar where it would be very difficult to free them. I believe we can."

"We will need a lot of material." Tess intervened. "Although it's not an impenetrable city like Orgrimmar it doesn't mean that it's easy. It's honestly a bit out of my field of knowledge."

"I was close to Dazar’alor doing recognition." Dereck assured. "I know some entrances but none of the agents managed to enter the city. Sure Mayla can tell us details but we would still need something more."

"Well, it only remains to ask an expert for help." Anduin said as he got up from the ground once he healed Mayla. "We need extra help. Mathias with all the knowledge he has could help, and besides, he's the only one who infiltrated the city."

"Get Mathias into all this?" Tess asked. "Let's see, Anduin, did you just tell all the leaders that we didn't make a pact with Baine and now you want to ask for help to rescue him? They will realize that you have lied to them!"

"And what do you want to do, huh?" Anduin frowned. "I don't like it either, but Mathias has years of experience doing these things, he has more experience than all of us combined. Or would you rather go and hit our heads against the city walls?" there was no immediate response. "Well?"

"It just doesn't seem right to me."

"Well, contribute ideas, or am I going to be the only one?"

"People." Calia decided to cut the conversation. "Let's breathe for a moment, we are all very tense right now and I don't believe we can think clearly. I think the best thing we can do right now is go to sleep, seriously. Mayla, you better stay in the house tonight, Varok can tell you where you can sleep. The rest of us go to bed and tomorrow morning we take a cold shower, have a good breakfast, and meet here again to think carefully about what to do. Okay?"

Calia was right, it had been a pretty rough day and they needed to rest. They decided to meet around nine to discuss the rescue, they were against the clock and couldn't allow it. Anduin was among the last to leave the house, and Wrathion stopped him for a moment to speak. The young king distrusted, he didn't want to argue with him again loudly although the dragon seemed calmer. The two of them stayed behind in the woods and stopped by a tree waiting to be alone.

"Are you going to yell at me again for what I did?" Anduin asked, very tired.

"Look, I'm sorry." Wrathion lowered his head a bit. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, I got very nervous and spoke without thinking." Anduin lowered his head now. "But you have to understand me, telling Jaina was..."

"A mistake, but you also have to understand me. Do you think I told her because I wanted to? She discovered me, I wasn't good at lying and I made a mistake in the previous meeting when I said that someone was going to help me and then I didn't tell you that detail because I forgot."

"Anyway, why after telling Jaina you didn't tell me?"

"Well..." the voice stopped Anduin before he said something. It was the voice who told him to hide it and now it didn't want him to confess the truth. "I don't know... I couldn't think clearly..."

"Why do you lie to me?" they both exchanged glances, Wrathion was frowning.

"I panicked, okay?" Anduin walked a bit. "Anyway that has stopped mattering, the only thing that worries me now is to save Baine and Ebyssian." the young king wanted to end the conversation and tried to leave, but Wrathion grabbed his arm.

"I know what they want to do to you, Tess has told us. I just want to tell you that you don't have to bear it alone."

"But I will have to, right?"

The dragon tilted his head, Anduin said it very sadly. Wrathion wanted to say something else, but the young king turned away from him. Wrathion had been trying to talk to Anduin for a long time because he was quite worried about him, but Anduin never wanted to speak openly, he always evaded or got very defensive. To make it worse, more and more serious problems kept arising and he couldn't find the right moment since Anduin didn't stop being distracted. He was starting to feel like they were growing apart.

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No one slept well that night, for one reason or another, the concern was quite overwhelming. They followed Calia's plan, after a shower and a good breakfast, they all got back together in the house. They tried to plan how to get into Dazar’alor. Mayla knew of several lightly guarded entrances into the city, but they would always find some group of guards quickly and be discovered. Stealth was too important and only three of them could pull it off, it wasn't enough to carry out such a mission. They spent a long time discussing whether they should seek help, they needed open minded people. Anduin was sure that Mathias wouldn't be a problem, the spymaster would always do what the king asked, and he knew that Mathias had already infiltrated Dazar’alor once, but everyone had doubts.

Then there was another question. If they manage to get Baine and Ebyssian out of there, what would they do then? They couldn't go home, the Horde would find them easily. In Alliance's territory it wasn't safe either, it wasn't like Varok’s case who was only one.

Varok changed plans when he announced that he wanted to go. He respected Baine too much and now that all the tauren people, for whom he always had big respect, were in danger he wanted to get involved. That changed the perspective a bit, time was passing fast and they had to make a decision. In the end, after much discussion, they came to the conclusion that they needed help due to lack of knowledge. But since Anduin was the one who insisted on asking for help, he should be the one to talk to the necessary people and that slightly annoyed him, but he accepted.

At any moment it was going to rain surely, the day was quite gray. Anduin was accompanied by Tess and Dereck to speak to Mathias. The spymaster was on the Alliance ship as usual and chatting with Genn. Anduin wasn't sure what to say to him and obviously the others wouldn't say anything like that to their boss. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Mathias." Anduin called, both Mathias and Genn looked at him. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course." answered the spymaster.

"In private."

"We are already in private." Genn said.

"Well… I just wanted to talk to Mathias alone."

"No." Genn approached Anduin. "Secrets are over, we've had enough with misunderstandings in a meeting. And that goes for you two too." he pointed at Tess and Dereck. "Talk."

"It's... we need help." Genn paid attention. "They have captured a friend of ours and we want to free him."

"What friend?" asked Mathias. Anduin began to doubt a lot and didn't dare to say it, Genn and Mathias were getting impatient so he decided to let go.

"It's Baine, they have locked him up for helping us and they want to execute him." the silence that followed that sentence was extremely uncomfortable. Mathias managed to say something after a while.

"Are you asking me to help you rescue a leader of the Horde? And how do you know that he is in prison?"

"Baine helped us with Leo’s rescue, it was him, Jaina discovered me. Besides, in Nazmir he didn't give us away so... we're somewhat indebted to him and... he doesn't deserve it."

"He's in Dazar’alor for now." Tess said. "They will take him to Orgrimmar soon and we want to get him out before the transfer. The problem is that we lack experience and-"

"Anduin." Genn cut in. "Can we talk for a moment?"

The young king wasn't entirely surprised by the request. He had sworn to Genn that he never made a deal with Baine and that Jaina was wrong even though Genn told him he wouldn't do anything to him. Most likely, he was angry about this. Both kings entered the ship's captain's cabin alone. Genn didn't look at him angry, he looked quite sad.

"I don't recognize you, Anduin." said the old wolf. "I can't believe it."

"Genn… there is a reason for all this."

"It doesn't matter. I told you that I would do nothing if you confirmed that it was true, I told you. You looked at me in the eye and lied."

"I couldn't risk that-"

"No, Anduin!I have gone after everyone telling them that Jaina's accusation was a mistake to leave you alone, all because I trusted you. And now I find out that you have used me? You of all people?" Anduin started to feel pretty bad.

"I... I was afraid that maybe..."

"I clearly told you that I wouldn't do anything to you. You hurt me."

Genn walked outside without saying anything else. That was horrible, he had done everything wrong with Genn by betraying his trust and the old wolf wouldn't forgive him or trust his word again. He felt the loneliness of last night again, at this rate no leader would ever be on his side again. When he came back on deck, he saw Tess talking to Mathias, probably explaining the situation to him. Anduin walked closer to listen.

"I was in Dazar’alor once to steal a relic that belonged to the Tidesage." Mathias explained with a frown. "I know good places where we could enter, but..."

"We don't really know how to do it." Tess insisted. "Only two of us know something of stealth and then there is Wrathion with his magic, but we need something more."

"But do you really want to help members of the Horde?"

"Mathias." Anduin joined the conversation. "After this, I don't think the tauren people will return to the Horde. After executing the leaders, Sylvanas will bend all the tauren, kill them or force them to fight in the front line. Do you really want to allow that knowing that you could have done something?"

"Well…" Mathias had to think about it for a moment. It wasn't a burden that he wanted to have. "If you put it that way..."

"I don't force anyone. If you help us it would be great, if not then we will go alone and let it be what the Light wants, we have already decided."

Mathias looked at Genn for a moment, the old wolf was sad, but he shrugged and let Mathias decide. After thinking about it for a while, the spymaster agreed, but wanted more details on how they actually did Leo's rescue. They agreed to meet in an hour, south of Stormsong Valley, Tess went with Mathias to continue clarifying things and bring some equipment, Dereck would go to warn the others and Anduin looked for Taelia to convince her to take a bigger ship. It was great to have Taelia as a guardian, they never had a problem with sea transportation and they both quickly sailed to Stormsong Valley. As Dereck told Mayla and Varok first, they arrived much earlier and hid in the cabin to wait, Mathias still didn't know about them and they wanted to explain it slowly during the trip. After an hour, the others appeared. Genn decided to accompany Mathias, but Anduin didn't understand why and Genn didn't want to say it. As soon as they all boarded, the journey began with favorable winds to Dazar’alor.

When they got away from Kul Tiras, Anduin decided it was time to explain why they knew about Baine's arrest. Both Genn and Mathias frowned heavily when they saw the tauren and the orc, especially Mathias, since it was him who organized the search for Varok when he 'fled' from Stormwind.

"Well... So it was you..." said Mathias. Genn preferred not to say anything and just shook his head. "I thought he was still in the Eastern Kingdoms."

"It was a favor we did to Baine, and it was Mayla who told us what happened." Anduin clarified. "Anyway, how do we do this?"

"Okay." Mathias took from the large backpack that he brought dark clothes and long cloaks. "First I need you to wear darker clothes, it's the one we used in the SI:7 together with these cloaks so you can camouflage yourself on any surface. I have brought this too." Mathias showed some big glasses with blue lenses of Gnomic manufacture. "When I was in the city, I saw many hidden traps, with these glasses we will be able to see them in time."

"How does it work?" Mayla asked, frowning.

"The glasses allow you to see ropes or mechanisms with gears, the Zandalaris use that type of traps. You told me there were two prisoners, right?" some nodded. "Where are they exactly?" he looked at Mayla.

"They will be in the lower part of the pyramid, it's where the dungeons are located."

"Is it a big place?" Mayla nodded. "I think we should make two groups to search faster, the less time we are there, the better. I can lead one with Tess and the other I think Dereck is qualified for it, he has done many infiltrations throughout his life in the SI:7 and he knows what to do."

"In that case I'll go with Wrathion." Dereck said. "I'd say he's the other expert among us."

"Okay." Mathias gave him one of the glasses. "Some should stay behind protecting the ship, just in case."

"I stay." Genn said. "Infiltrations are not my thing."

"I'm staying too." Calia offered.

"I'm not going to abandon a ship so…" Taelia said from the helm.

"Decided then." Mathias bent down to put some clothes in the backpack. "Then in a group it will be me, Tess and Anduin."

"I'm coming with you." Varok intervened.

"Then I, Wrathion and Mayla are on our own." Dereck said. "We will be fine."

"It's done," said Mathias. "go change your clothes and try not to carry big weapons."

The uniform Anduin was wearing was a bit small, but since it would only be for this occasion it was better not to complain. He kept several throwing knives in easy-to-reach places. He was good with those knives, Valeera taught him when he was little, he only regretted not carrying his sword. They had a bit of bad luck, although the wind was favorable, the tides weren't, and they took a long time to arrive. It was already afternoon when they saw Zandalar and docked on a beach east of Xibala, the only area that wasn't guarded. As they took hours to arrive, when they went ashore, they decided to eat something. Genn, Calia and Taelia stayed there after lunch and wished them good luck, the others followed Mayla, who was showing the path that led to Dazar’alor.

The road was quite long, apart from being a jungle with a lot of humidity, it had many slopes and they didn't stop climbing a hill until they approached the west of Dazar’alor. The best they could do was enter from the west, the only area without patrols, but they had an inconvenience. They had to descend from a cliff, cross the Kingsmouth River and then climb a very high rock face until they reached the city wall. The only advantage is that there were some ropes that they could use as an aid. Despite that, Mathias had brought climbing gear because he knew they would find that problem.

With that in mind, they approached the edge of the cliff to begin the descent very carefully. With the ropes, lianas, holes in the rocks and some white powder that they put on their hands, the seven managed to reach the river and they crossed it swimming without problems. They saw the ropes that Mayla mentioned to climb, so Mathias decided to go first to check the status. Wrathion, who didn't need any of that thanks to his agility to climb on any surface, helped with the ascent by holding the good ropes from above. Going up was more tiring than going down, sometimes they had to stop for a while to catch their breath. Except for a little scare because Anduin almost fell, they managed to reach the wall of Dazar’alor.

Wrathion climbed the wall first with two jumps to see if there were people. He saw that they were right in an area of craftsmen, so he pointed them to move to the right towards a street where there was only an empty shrine. After using a tree right next to them, they moved to the right until they reached the empty street. Mathias made calculations quickly, they had to cross the street one by one and then climb the wall of the pyramid until they reached the first floor, right where there was a space with vegetation.

Mathias and Wrathion crossed first and hid behind the shrine. The dragon grabbed the end of the rope and quickly climbed the wall to the first floor, tied the rope to a tree and gave them a signal to start the climbing. Dereck was the first to cross quickly and climb the wall. It was all a matter of strength, it was a smooth surface, so they could only climb the rope. They had a very good advantage with Wrathion, the dragon was pulling the rope from above and helping them to climb more easily. But they couldn't avoid some Zandalaris passing through that street and leaving an offering on the shrine of a Loa in the form of a frog. At that time they had to stop the advance, hide the rope and hide under the cape until they left. The weather helped them a lot too, as the sky was covered with black clouds, it seemed like it was a dark night and no one saw them climbing the wall. Mathias was the last to climb and they decided to rest for a moment hiding in the undergrowth for the effort, especially Wrathion. Mathias went ahead while they rested to see if they had a clear path, and it took him a few minutes to return. The spymaster commented that it was quite empty, but the door to enter the interior was guarded by a Zandalari golem. They couldn't distract it or turn it off in any way, they could only use magic. As Wrathion already regained some of his strength, they began to walk around the lonely place and go up the stairs until they saw the golem. Wrathion had to concentrate well to eliminate the arcane magic that flowed within the stone, it took a minute, but the golem fell to the ground. They entered an excessively dark place, which was an advantage. Mayla indicated the way to follow until they reached the ground floor, right in the cells. That was when they had to divide since there were two paths.

Dereck's group followed one path until they reached the largest cells, behind a barred door they saw Ebyssian with a guard. At least this confirmed that they arrived just in time. Ebyssian was tied up with two large chains attached to his wrists and kept him on his knees. There was no time for subtleties, Wrathion entered first without hesitation followed by Mayla. The guard, who was sitting, grabbed the spear and stood on guard quite frightened. Wrathion held his dagger with his right hand, he didn't bother trying to fool that Zandalari, he only approached waiting for him to attack him. The Zandalari made a slow lunge, but the dragon easily dodged it and sliced through his neck in the blink of an eye. The guard fell to the ground and Wrathion frowned at Ebyssian.

"Have they put an anti-magic necklace on you?" Ebyssian shrugged.

"They had no other solution against me, they even brought crystals to nullify my magic when they captured me."

"Bastards..." Mayla approached.

"Ebonhorn! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"Don't worry, only my knees hurt from being in this position. I am also thirsty." Mayla didn't hesitate to bring him her bottle of water. "I didn't expect you to come looking for me."

"Of course," said Wrathion. "you're part of the group and we don't leave anyone behind. And besides, you're my brother."

As Mayla explained how they got here, Dereck and Wrathion forced the old dragon's chains. They were difficult to break, but they made it after a few minutes. Ebyssian was weak, he hadn't fed since he was captured and the anti magic collar drained some of his strength as well, so they couldn't run too much. This would be a problem to get out of Dazar’alor, they entered thanks to the climb, but if both Ebyssian and Baine were in that state it would be difficult. After giving Ebyssian one of the dark cloaks to hide, they returned to their starting point in silence.

Mathias was truly a god when it came to stealth. He might move slowly, but it was safe. Thanks to the glasses, he was able to see various traps along the way and his ingenuity to mislead the guards there made going through the entire way excessively easy. Anduin was surprised, even though Tess had once told him how good Mathias was at his job, seeing it in person was even more incredible. They located Baine in a large cell at the end of the path, there was only one Zandalari leaning on the door waiting for new orders. Mathias made a simple plan with Tess, she would mislead him and he would knock him out. Anduin and Varok stood in a corner waiting. Both spies used the darkness to their advantage and with invisibility techniques they approached. Tess went to one end and threw some stones to make noise, the distraction worked as soon as the Zandalari got up and approached the area. With that oversight, Mathias was able to approach from behind with ease and knocked him out with one blow. They quickly searched the pockets or belt of the Zandalari until they found the keys and opened the cell immediately.

"Anduin?" asked Baine when he raised his head, he seemed doubtful at first, but he opened his eyes hopefully when he saw that it wasn't an illusion.

"Baine, are you okay?" Anduin approached to look for wounds. "Easy, we will free you now."

"How did you know?" Mathias approached the chains to free him with another set of keys.

"Mayla escaped and warned us, we came as soon as we could to save you."

"My friend." Varok approached. "We won't let Sylvanas get away with it."

"It may be too late..." Baine was released and stood up with difficulty. "I won't pay for it, my people will pay it first."

"Your people?"

"Sorry for interrupting." Mathias said. "Can we have that conversation as soon as we leave Zandalar?"

Anduin nodded, they had to get out of there first. Since they already knew the way, this time they quickly crossed the path that led to the entrance and found the rest of the group already waiting. Mayla gave Baine a hug when she saw that he was relatively well. But when they came outside, they were surprised that Talanji and a bunch of royal guards were waiting for them.

"If you knew that when a golem is forcibly deactivated, it sends a signal to communicate that there are intruders, perhaps we would not have discovered you." Talanji said. It was definitely a detail they didn't know about and now they were in trouble. "What does this mean, Baine?"

"Talanji..." Baine approached the Zandalari queen. "It's much more complicated than it seems."

"Speak."

"What exactly did Nathanos tell you?"

"That you betrayed us because you freed a prisoner."

"An eight year old boy." Talanji frowned. "A child that they were going to kill, I did not want to allow it and just for that now they want to kill me and all my people. Did they tell you the truth or just half of it?"

"He told me that it was an Alliance general." Baine shook his head.

"No, they lied to you."

"That doesn't tell me why the Alliance is here."

"Because they are my friends, they are helping me."

"But if you committed a cri-"

"Talanji, you know I'm not going to be the one who will pay for it." Talanji looked around, she knew what he meant by that, but she shook her head once more.

"I can't let them go..." Baine tried to reply. "They attacked the port!" They sank the fleet!"

"It wasn't them! This group you see here was in Nazmir that day, helping to defeat the evil that was in Uldir. They opposed the attack made by the others, that's why it wasn't them." Talanji kept shaking his head, unsure what to do. "Please let us go... The only reason I'm still alive is because Sylvanas wanted me to see how she massacred my people... and Mayla's as well. I don't know why she decided this, but you have a chance not to get your hands dirty with that blood." Talanji thought it over for a few minutes while she paced back and forth a bit before looking back at Baine.

"I owe you one for your support when you arrived, we lived through several problems together... Consider this as a settled debt but..." Talanji looked at them with narrowed eyes. "I don't want any of you to ever set foot in this city again." Baine looked at Anduin for a moment, but he nodded.

"Never is never."

"But you know I have to report that you escaped."

"Can you give me a little margin?"

Talanji nodded, she was going to let them go thanks to the altruism that Baine had with her since the beginning, but at a high cost, Baine could no longer count on the Zandalari people. They left the city over the west bridge and traveled the same way to get back to the ship. Luckily, now they went downhill and although Baine and Ebyssian were weak, they walked without problem. Along the way, Baine explained how he was arrested without any foresight, it was so spontaneous that he couldn't even react. He tried to remember if they saw them leave Orgrimmar or if he said something suggestive, but like Mayla, he couldn't think of anything.

They arrived with nothing to regret to the ship, Genn, Calia and Taelia greeted them with a thousand questions about how it went. They explained the effort to get in and how easy it was to get out despite being caught. Luckily, deep down, Talanji didn't trust Sylvanas and didn't want to be an accomplice to a massacre. This time the tides did favor them and the gentle breeze didn't slow the ship. On deck they offered Baine and Ebyssian food to regain some strength while Wrathion inspected the anti-magic collar after a while.

"Can't you take it off?" Mayla asked, concerned.

"I'm not qualified." Wrathion replied. "You see, the problem with these necklaces is that they can only be removed with magic and only if you're an expert. A skilled blue dragon or an Archmage could, but it's a bit beyond my ability. If I try and fail, I could damage his mind forever."

"Oh…" Mayla covered her mouth with her hand.

"We will find a solution." Ebyssian said. "But… what do we do now?" there was a long silence after the question, no one was sure what to do.

"I'll go to Mulgore." Baine said. "Sylvanas will want to burn Thunder Bluff for this... Although maybe she already did! Maybe everyone is dead already and I..."

"They're still alive." Mayla said. "The news of your arrest had hardly arrived, they're still there, I'm sure."

"Well, they have to get out of there as soon as possible." Baine got up. "If Talanji gives me time, we could make an exodus to save my people, and Mayla's too. But I don't know where to start."

"We will help you." said Anduin as he took a step. "We can help you, you cannot stay in Kalimdor but there is a place in the Eastern Kingdoms where you can stay."

"Wait, Anduin." Genn cut. "Where do you want them to live exactly?"

"In Silverpine Forest." Genn blinked.

"Do you want them to be near Tyrande? She won't allow it! And remember we started planning Gilneas' recovery, they can't be there."

"They cannot stay anywhere else, in Kalimdor they will be killed. We can transport them all with ships to theNorth Tide’s Beachhead and we won't have to regret anything. I'll lend my ships too."

"You can count on my ships too." Taelia said.

"Anduin, I think you don't know what you want to do." Genn said seriously. "You are going to do something very dangerous that could break the entire Alliance. And you haven't even discussed it with the rest."

"Are we going to discuss whether we let two entire tribes live or die? There is nothing to discuss in this."

"Listen." Baine turned to Genn. "I’m aware we don't know each other very well, but I still have honor. If you help me with this, I would never attack you, I would be indebted to you for life."

"It's not because of you really…" Genn sighed. "It's because you aren't very aware of the situation in the Alliance, this isn't easy to do."

"People." Dereck called. "Ship approaching quickly from starboard."

They all leaned out to see what ship it was and got a bit scared when they saw the sails, it was a ship from the Kul Tiras fleet. What were they doing there? And how did they know they were here? They had a Tidesage on board that helped them with the currents judging by the speed at which it was approaching. Anduin asked the tauren and Varok to hide in the cabin, he had strong suspicions that this wouldn’t end well. The Tidesage on the other ship manipulated the tides and winds so that both ships stopped side by side, as if they were pirates ready to open fire on each other at any moment. They approached the railing to get a better look at them. The sailors wore the colors of Kul Tiras and their faces didn't radiate confidence anywhere. They weren't too many, but they were positioned right next to the cannons.

"You are very far from land." said a sailor. "The Lord Admiral told us that maybe we would find you in the waters that separate Kul Tiras and Zandalar. What a coincidence! What do you think?" he asked the boatswain.

"A clear coincidence." answered the man.

"Did Jaina know we were around?" Genn asked.

"Not quite." answered the sailor. "She told us to try luck, that we would surely see you around here. We have the duty to communicate something."

"Communicate what?" Anduin asked.

"The point is that you have to come back to us." several frowned.

"Why?" when Anduin asked, a man on the other boat showed himself. By his clothes, he was the captain of the ship, the appearance of him marked by time and battles made it clear to everyone that they shouldn't mess with him.

"Listen to me, bunch of delusional people." said the captain in a very serious voice. "We have a simple job, by order of the Lord Admiral we must take you quickly to Boralus, so stop asking stupid questions that make all this slower than it should. Enough talking, let us manipulate the ship to take it back, otherwise here and now we will open fire with the cannons already loaded, we can always say that it was an accident." nobody wanted to answer. "Got it?" Anduin tried to consider the possibilities, but considering that apparently they already had their cannons loaded and they weren't going to hesitate to fire even if they tried something in the middle of the ocean, the best option was to obey.

"Okay, we'll go." Anduin said.

"Good boy, I don't want to see anyone doing anything weird. Move!"

The Tidesage used his big power to put both ships in motion. This wasn't a good sign, they were very lucky with the rescue but now everything had gone wrong. They had very important members of the Horde hiding on the ship and now they were heading to Boralus. Did Jaina suspect something strange was happening? How? And why send some thugs after them? The journey was excessively uncomfortable, the other ship kept pointing its cannons at them and if one of them tried to speak they would be silenced. Thanks to the Tidesage, they reached Kul Tiras much earlier than planned and were forced to dock in Boralus. Once on land, they saw that Jaina was waiting for them along with Turalyon and Alleria with some soldiers. Things got better with every second that passed. The ship from the fleet moved away from them, at least they wouldn't shoot them. Anduin got off the boat first and approached Jaina, the rest followed close behind.

"Why have you done this, Jaina?" Anduin asked.

"Because you're predictable." Jaina crossed her arms. "Let's see, you say you rescued Leo thanks to an anonymous member of the Horde. First thing in the morning, word reaches me that Baine has been detained. On the same day, you and all your friends disappear, including Genn and Mathias... And when it occurs to me to ask a crew to try to find a Boralus ship in the sea between Kul Tiras and Zandalar, they find you. If I inspect the ship, will I find anything?"

"No need to talk." Turalyon intervened. "Here we all know how to count one plus one, we are tired of this."

"You have no right." Anduin said quickly. "What if you better mind your own business?"

"It's over."

Turalyon walked towards the ship and Anduin tried to stop him, but nothing was going to stop him. As they came with several soldiers, they all stopped Anduin. No one wanted to put on a show, but Anduin started to feel the Void calling him, the voice kept whispering to him to kill them. He could do it if he wanted to, it would be as easy as concentrating a bit, rooting them with tentacles and then… Anduin shook his head, he shouldn’t think that right now. Jaina went after Turalyon when they looked into the hold, but they found nothing there, only when Jaina opened the cabin, door she finally discovered them.

"I knew it…" Jaina murmured. Baine was surprised to see her. "Hello, Baine."

"Jaina…" the tauren tried to get closer, but Turalyon drew his sword and stood guard.

"But... the orc is also here." said Turalyon. "Wait, did you do that too?" Turalyon approached Anduin. "Why did you free a war prisoner!?"

"You don't know what happened!"

"And what do you intend to do with them?" Jaina asked. "If they were imprisoned, why release them?"

"They are no longer part of the Horde." Anduin felt the Void closer. _Kill them_. "Remember that Baine helped you save lives years ago on Theramore." Jaina pointed at him painfully.

"Don't you dare mention Theramore..."

"Hey," Turalyon approached. "you free a war prisoner, you make deals with members of the Horde, you lie to us in important meetings and now you save them. Why?"

"Because I'm not a fucking murderer!" anger began to flood his mind. "We could have had peace a long time ago, we could have! But you preferred to kill each other. We have here two races that the Horde has condemned to death, races that could unite to overthrow a genocide, but you'd rather make a drama! What I want to do? What do you think I want to do? Save them! Nobody deserves to die like that!"

"And where do you want to take two whole races?" Jaina asked.

"I was thinking of Silverpine Forest, nobody lives there now." Jaina was about to laugh.

"Silverpine Forest? Okay, what do Tyrande and Velen think about it?"

"They still don't know."

"They will sure love the idea of having enemies around."

"Who says they're not pretending?" asked Turalyon. "What if this all turns out to be a trap? What if we let them into the Eastern Kingdoms and they infiltrate our territory? What if they join the Sin'dorei and plan a conquest on Arathi?"

"You are paranoid." Anduin said, shaking his head. "Since the Azerite appeared, you are paranoid with everything, now I see it clearly."

"We don't want to hurt anyone." Baine cut off. "We just want them not to kill us..."

"You shut up." Turalyon pointed out. "You are not part of us so stay out of this."

"Leave him alone," Anduin approached the paladin. you have no right to speak like that to someone who is literally fleeing from what you want to destroy. If you ask him for help, he would surely overthrow Sylvanas at your side."

"Are you deaf? There is no guarantee that it's not a trap, that perhaps two entire races together with the Sin'dorei will attack Arathi and take it from us." the voice returned to him: _He is not understanding you, you should kill him before it is too late. Do it with your hands, choke him, you can do it. Kill him._

"I will be deaf but I am not a damn psychopath who wants to stain his hands with blood of two entire races. Congratulations, you are like Sylvanas, you did it. You condemn the Alliance with your decisions."

"Like you! People never change sides! You are a child and that is why you don't know it, you will lead us to ruin and I will not allow it." _kill him, kill him, kill him._

"I'm sick of you! You have only contributed trouble since you got back!" _kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him._

"I could contribute more than you in your entire existence! You are nothing but a poor shadow of Varian!"

Sometimes, when you reach your limit of patience and nerves, if they say something specific, you hear a click in your mind. Anduin had never heard it, he was always able to remain calm, but between Turalyon's screams, the voice whispering to him all the time and comparing him to his father, he heard that sound for the first time. Then Anduin was sure that he lost the ability to hear, anger prevented him from seeing beyond Turalyon and the desire he had to strangle him. Without warning, Anduin lunged at Turalyon and wrapped his hands around his neck. Luckily, the rest of the people there could react, Genn and Wrathion were the ones who pushed Anduin away by grabbing him by the shoulders and Jaina pushed Turalyon away. No one expected that reaction, much less from Anduin, everyone was speechless. Turalyon rubbed a hand around his neck in confusion and looked at his wife.

"You were right." he said. "This boy is going crazy, he's a lost case." Anduin heard him and his anger rose again

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Anduin screamed as much as he could, almost didn't recognize his own voice. Genn loosened a bit, but Wrathion didn't do it for safety. Jaina looked at Baine.

"Silverpine Forest? Really?" Baine nodded.

"We really just want to run away from Sylvanas. You know me, you know that I would never hurt anyone if I could."

"You know what? Right now it doesn't matter, do what you want. I'll warn Tyrande, don't expect her to greet you with open arms, so it will be your problem. But you won't have any of my ships."

"No problem with that." Taelia said. "I'll leave mine for transport." Jaina frowned.

"You can't do that…"

"Actually, I can. You are the Lord Admiral, you know that you have absolute control over the fleet, but Boralus' transport and trade ships are mine." Jaina frowned more.

"If something ends up happening and they join Lor’Themar to slaughter you, don't even think about asking me for help."

Jaina left with Turalyon and Alleria, probably it would be the last time they would exchange words with them for a long time, maybe they would leave the Alliance. Jaina made the decision to ignore everything, maybe she just let them go to test if the tauren really wanted to infiltrate and kill them, so she would be absolutely right and get rid of any retaliation, she wouldn't help if it happened. And if what they said was true, that they were only fleeing from Sylvanas, she wouldn't help them either. Taelia approached the group and sighed.

"Well, I'm going to find captains for the ships I will use." Wrathion released Anduin once he noticed that he had calmed down, but the young king didn't look good.

"Taelia, can you take me to Stormwind so I can take my ships too?" asked Anduin.

"Sure, no problem."

"Well…" Tess said. "Before leaving I will ask Leo for help, maybe he can lend us the Tidesages that he can and we can make shorter trips. Baine and Mayla, you should start telling your people to pack."

They all nodded and hurried to give the announcements. Anduin decided to enter the captain's cabin to sit down for a moment. His heart was beating too fast and he was shaking exaggeratedly. If they hadn't held him back, he wouldn't have stopped. He almost used the Void too, the voice insisted too much. Baine came in next to Wrathion, both of them were quite concerned.

"Anduin," Baine crouched down. "are you okay, friend?"

"Yes, yes..." he lied. "I just need a moment, I need only a moment."

"If that is your wish I will respect it." Baine got up and walked out the door, but Wrathion didn't.

"Anduin..."

"I want to be alone, please, Wrathion..." his voice also trembled at the end and Wrathion preferred to go out in case Anduin got another fit of anger when he saw how his hands were shaking. After a long silence, the voice spoke to him.

_"Too bad they stopped you. Don't worry, the time to kill will come."_

_"Please, leave me alone."_

Anduin spoke in another language without realizing again, he didn't want to know anything about anyone. But the voice made him nervous again with a simple sentence.

_You are already alone._

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

The exodus of the tauren took many days of travel. Mayla was able to quickly send a message to her people because they were relatively close. Baine, considering that Kalimdor was on the other side of the Mare Magnum, had to go personally with Wrathion's help. Since Ebyssian couldn't transform into a dragon, it had to be Wrathion who took him at full speed for two and a half days, stopping by some small islands along the way. Apparently, only the news that Baine had been arrested reached his people, but they knew nothing of the escape. Talanji complied with her word and held out for as long as she could before explaining that they escaped. That gave them time to start the journey from Mulgore and the Barrens both North and South to Ratchet, the harbor where the ships would wait.

They were unable to avoid some of the Horde attacks anyway, especially north of the Barrens. Some families were killed by groups heading to Thunder Bluff, others fled aimlessly and are now missing. As much as it hurt, they couldn't go looking for them for now, they would have to do it after the first migration. Thanks to Leo helping them with the Tidesages, the travel through the sea wasn't as horrendous as thought, nor did it take too many days. Before reaching the Eastern Kingdoms, they stopped on the shores of Highmountain as no member of the Horde had arrived there yet and Mayla's people embarked without difficulty.  
Anduin had problems in Stormwind when he wanted to take his ships, many questioned his decision to save a race that has always been on the side of the Horde. The young king had very strong arguments with some opposing captains and his stress increased more than ever. In the end, he couldn't take as many as he wanted at first, but since he had Taelia's ships on his side, it was enough.

Anduin didn't talk much to anyone, anything irritated him or he was simply too tired to speak. Nightmares at night were sometimes unbearable, he saw people he cared about a lot abandoning him or fighting him. His heart weighed too heavy when they turned their backs on him, these dreams hurt too much and he felt that he couldn't bear the sadness any longer, but when he woke up it was another story. The voice consumed him into believing that they were alone, and without realizing it, Anduin spoke alone more often. At least today was the day they reached the forest. Anduin was in the bow with his head resting on the railing looking at the land they were approaching when Genn came closer to him after speaking with the captain.

"They say we will arrive in fifteen minutes." Anduin nodded. "I heard you had some trouble in Stormwind."

"Just some?" he said in a bad mood.

"Okay, quite a few. What happened in the end?"

"Many are angry and those who agreed, well... they’re here."

"Have you heard from Tyrande?"

"I can't be on everything, Genn." Anduin sighed. "I haven't heard anything from anyone in all this time and the truth is that it's better this way."

"So we don't know how Tyrande took it."

"We'll know when we see her."

Wrathion flew just overhead, the poor dragon was carrying Mayla and Baine. Since it all started, the dragon has been flying everywhere and was quite exhausted, but this was at least going to be his last flight in a season. Wrathion went forward to see the territory before anyone else, but quickly returned.

"Hey!" Wrathion said as he approached the main ship. "There are a lot of elves on the shore!"

"It seems Jaina did tell her…" Genn muttered. Anduin looked at Wrathion.

"How many do you think there are?"

"Too many, maybe the whole army." Wrathion flapped his wings to stop descending. "What do we do now?"

"We won't stop." Genn was going to reply. "I'll talk to Tyrande, but we can't stop."

Going back right now would be the worst idea, they were running out of supplies and many people were dizzy from the trip, they needed to touch land. With Tyrande he could still talk, Anduin was sure of that and during the trip he had already thought what he could say to convince her in case she objected. Jaina gave her the wrong version, he was sure of it, but he would make her see the truth.

They reached the North Tide’s Beachhead in a few minutes and there they saw it with their eyes, a large group of Kaldoreis were waiting for them armed with Tyrande and Malfurion in front of everyone. Anduin ordered the ships to anchor, but no one will get out of them for now. As soon as they sent the message to all the ships through signals with flags, Anduin, Mathias and Genn got off first, the rest would wait. The three men stepped onto the sand when Wrathion decided to land and stand next to them. He went back to his humanoid form when Baine and Mayla got off, he was visibly tired and his shoulders shifted a little in pain.

"Are you okay?" Mayla asked the dragon.

"I just need a break." Wrathion replied. Just then, the Kaldorei assumed combat position and the archers charged their bows threateningly.

"Don't move." Tyrande said. They didn't dare to take a step. "You should not be here."

"Wait." Anduin said. The young king raised his hands and took a few steps towards them. "Can you at least talk to me?"

Tyrande didn't answer right away, she narrowed her eyes a little and looked at Malfurion, then at Shandris, and finally at part of her army. Tyrande pointed to Anduin only and gestured for him to come closer. The young king walked slowly towards them while the others looked at him worried. Tyrande and Malfurion also moved closer until the three of them were almost in the middle of the coast.

"You look horrible." Tyrande's first comment was direct, but she didn't offend Anduin. He was aware that he looked exhausted with the biggest dark circles he had ever had in his life.

"What did Jaina tell you?"

"That you were coming to this territory with the enemy."

"She hasn't told you what really happened, right?" Tyrande looked at him expectantly. "The tauren are no longer part of the Horde, Sylvanas wants to kill them."

"And you want to save them, why?"

"Because they haven't done anything wrong. This was all a series of unfortunate events because Baine wanted to help me rescue Leo."

"Why did you lie to us in the meeting about that?"

"Is it not obvious? I didn't want Baine to pay for that, much less with an extermination. And it seems to me a lot of coincidence that after that meeting they detained him. What should i think? They called me a traitor, what if the traitors were them? Who passed that information to Sylvanas?" Tyrande shook her head.

"They can't stay here anyway, they can't."

"And they can't be in Kalimdor either. In the Northrend, Pandaria and the Broken Isles it's impossible also because these places are guarded by both the Alliance and the Horde, they can only be here."

"So you understand why I don't agree with that? What if they attack us?"

"Of course I understand, but there is no other place. I've told them to just stay in Silverpine Forest, they won't cross the border you have, they won't get in the way to Gilneas, they just want to live. On these ships there are families, children, old people, very sick people… Don't put that blood on your hands, Tyrande, please don't."

"We also had people like that in Teldrassil… And they murdered us anyway, tauren included."

"That's why you have to understand them!" Anduin leaned a little closer and looked Tyrande in the eye without blinking. "Maybe while we're talking right now, Thunder Bluff is burning, right now. You know the horror of Teldrassil better than anyone, you know how it destroys lives to unimaginable levels, the aftermath... Would you allow that to happen again?" Tyrande kept her gaze. "Please don't let it happen again. If you kick them out of here, they will all die and you will have to live with that decision for the rest of your life, knowing that you could avoid it just by letting them live." Anduin's eyes got wet just thinking about what Sylvanas wanted to repeat and Tyrande looked away. "Please, don't do it... Don't allow an extermination…"

Tyrande looked at Malfurion, he was undecided too. The two elves exchanged a few words in Darnassian that Anduin didn't understand for a few minutes. When they reached a conclusion, Tyrande looked back at Anduin and sighed.

"They can stay." it was only three words, but Anduin felt immensely relieved. Finally, something had gone right for him after a while.

"Thank you... Thank you, Tyrande."

Luckily, at least one person still had sanity, someone who didn't want thousands of innocents die at the hands of a genocide, at least one person listened to him. Anduin returned to his people and explained that they would let them pass. Baine was very happy and as soon as he had a moment he would thank Tyrande his whole life for deciding not to kill them. The operation to land and start moving a little to put up some tents began. The coast would become a temporary base where they would take care of the injured or people who caught a sickness in the sea and step by step they would enter the forest to settle. However, Tyrande had one small condition: they would be watched. She would leave much of her troops there to make sure they didn't do anything weird. It seemed reasonable to Anduin, it was obvious that she wanted security, there would be no problem because he knew that nothing bad would happen. Anduin and Tyrande talked a little more, she wanted a meeting with Baine, Mayla, Genn and Velen because they had very close territories and she needed to know more things that she could only hear in a meeting. Anduin agreed and said that as soon as things calmed down they would have one.

"I don't want to wait too long." said Tyrande. "Velen only knows half of this and Genn's people are quite against it."

"We will talk as soon as possible, you have my word." Tyrande hung her bow on her shoulder and looked at the hundreds of tauren there.

"You are a very good person, Anduin." the young king looked at her, surprised by that compliment. "Really, I don't think I have ever met someone like you." Tyrande looked at him. "Someday that will kill you or someone you love."

Anduin said nothing, just watched as Tyrande left. How many times did someone tell him something like that? He completely lost count and… deep down, he started to think that it would happen to him at any moment. With everything that had happened, he started to feel afraid. Why wasn't letting an entire race die bringing so much trouble? Was his ideology really completely obsolete and he had to assimilate that he lived in a cruel world where he must be another bad person? He had saved the tauren, but at the same time he felt that it wouldn't last and that in the end everything would go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you feel that the characters are off or distant? Good, now you know how Anduin feels, you are in his head now.  
By the way, in this chapter and in the previous one there is a very important detail of the story that I think nobody has noticed, a big plot-twist is here, just saying.  
I don't know when I will update, I said previously that I have no motivation and I feel that it's for nothing, so it may take a while, if you want to subscribe to get a notification next time go ahead, although I wonder if someone still cares about this LOL. I appreciate the kudos and comments too.  
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading. I have to say English is not my main language so it won't be a perfect translation, it will be crap most likely... but I hope you can forgive my mistakes and try to enjoy the story anyway. If you see something I must change (a word, spelling, whatever) you can tell me and I change it, but only if you want.  
If you know Spanish click on my user and find and read the Spanish one, my original writting. It will be much better than this.  
My twitter if you're interested is this: [twitter](https://twitter.com/llStonesll) we can yell about wranduin if you want.  
Again, sorry for mistakes, I try my best!


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